The Princess and the Spider
by Strix Moonwing
Summary: When Heather and Justin come up with a devious plot to steal Duncan's million dollars, both Duncan and Courtney wind up as tarantulas and are thrown into a race against time to make it out of the forest, get back the money, and change back to human!
1. Something Voodoo This Way Comes!

**Author's Note: Because I am so obsessed with the movie. Honestly, making the **_**Princess and the Frog **_**was the best decision Disney has made in years. It feels so good to see a classic traditionally drawn movie again! After seeing the movie twice, I finally got the idea of doing a Total Drama Island/Action version of the movie with Duncan and Courtney. Yes, I replaced the frogs with spiders. Why? Because frogs are just too damn cliche'. Also, it was fun drawing Duncan and Courtney as tarantulas...weird, but fun. You can also call it a tribute to Scruffy. Anywho, hope you guys enjoy! I'll try to update it every week!**

* * *

He should have won.

Justin knew it, the cast knew it, the fans knew it, Canada knew it…heck, the entire world knew it! They all knew that he should have won the million on Total Drama Action! He should have been gotten everyone's vote! He should have been the one that Courtney was kissing on live television!

It was him who should have come out on top!

"I don't get it." Justin pondered as he walked down the pool and side stand area. All the cast mates and contestants of Total Drama Action and Island were all staying at a five star hotel called "Suite de Loser". Despite Duncan already winning the million dollars, everyone still had to stay until after the big reward ceremony that Chris had planned out. It was going to take place in two days at the Gilded Chris Reward stage and it was there that Duncan would receive his money.

"Which should be my money!" Justin loudly proclaimed. "I was the hottest person on the show…well, at least until I received all those disfiguring injuries. But compared to these guys, I'm still the hottest!"

"Oh cry me a river, loser." a scathing voice sneered. Heather lifted her sunglasses and glared at Justin as she continued to sunbath on one of the pool chairs. "You may have been one of the hottest contestants, but you have as much brain power as Lindsay."

"Don't you think comparing me to Lindsay is a bit too far?" Justin asked indignantly. "I mean, at least I remember all your names!"

"True, but Lindsay did get further in the game than you did…for both seasons."

Damn, she had a point.

"If anything," Heather continued, placing a hand over her chest. "It should have been me winning the million! I'm the smartest,"

"I think that's Noah…"

"I'm the bravest…"

"I think that's Duncan…"

"I'm the strongest…"

"You're probably thinking of Courtney."

"SHUT UP!" Heather growled before continuing. "And I'm the most qualified person to win the show. It was only because of Duncan and Harold's narrow-minded stupidity that I didn't!" Heather screamed, throwing her hands up in frustration.

"Hmmhmm, you're also forgetting the fact that I do one mean cheer." LeShawna pointed out, hearing the conversation as she walked past holding a large, wrapped package.

"Not all of us can be so loud and proud!" Heather snapped, sitting up from her seat with hands on her hips. The bald teen then caught sight of the wrapped gift. "What's that?"

"Just a present for Gwen." Leshawna explained, proudly holding the gift up. "It was for me, but I think my girl Gwen will like it more."

"I thought I was your friend!" Heather complained, narrowing her grey eyes. "Why does the Goth geek get a present and I don't?"

LeShawna laughed. "Oh, trust me sister. This gift ain't your style." With that, she turned and headed towards the palm trees where Gwen was sure to be relaxing in the shade.

Not the one to be shrugged off so easily, Heather stood up. "I'll be the judge of that."

Justin looked up from admiring himself in the pool's reflection to see Heather get up from her deckchair and begin walking in Gwen's and LeShawna's direction.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"None of your business." Heather sharply replied. "Go fix that bruise on your face. It's disfiguring your face even more."

Justin let out a girly shriek of terror and started patting his face. "WHERE?"

Leaving the modern-day Narcissus behind, Heather crept over towards the palm trees and hid in the bushes to listen in as Leshawna conversed with the dark-haired Goth known as Gwen.

"A gift?" Gwen questioned the package in front of her with a raised brow. "The bald-haired witch didn't set you up with this, did she?"

There was an almost inaudible growl from bushed behind her.

"Now girl, you know me better than that. I might be on even grounds with Heather, but that doesn't mean I'll sink to her level." LeShawna said, pushing the gift towards Gwen. "This is just a little something that my Granny sent to me yesterday. I thought you'd like it better."

Gwen hastily unwrapped the gift, peered inside, and frowned as she pulled out a large, old moth-eaten book. "You're grandma sent you a book on Voodoo and Hoodoo spells, charms, and rituals?" Gwen asked, brow arched in puzzled confusion.

"Yep! My Granny owns a voodoo shop in New Orleans and she's been sending all sorts of stuff that she thought would help me win the million!" LeShawna began to toss some stuff from the box into a bewildered Gwen's arms. "Gris-gris bags! Candles! Powders! Rabbit's feet – don't let DJ see that! And Voodoo dolls!" She tossed a creepy looking doll with needles sticking out of it into the towering pile of stuff in Gwen's arms.

"If figured that since bad boy already won, you might like the stuff better." LeShawna explained.

"Thank…you…" Gwen gasped before finally toppling over from the weight of all the Voodoo items. When she fell, one of the items unknowingly was tossed into the bushes- right onto Heather.

"OW!"

Gwen's head jerked up. "Did you hear something?"

"Aw, probably just Cody and Trent. Those homeboys are having a game of volleyball in the pool." She flashed Gwen a sly smile. "Wanna join them? I'll team with Cody."

Gwen visibly grimaced. "How about I team with Cody?" It wasn't as if she hated being with Trent now that they had broken up, but things were still a tad bit too awkward for her taste.

LeShawna sighed. Well, it was worth a try. "Okay, let's go put these things in your room and head to the pool."

Heather watched the two friends depart through narrowed grey eyes, each sharp enough to cut ice. It wasn't as if she was jealous. Please, she had outgrown such petty, inferior feelings like that! However, if Miss Loud and Proud wanted to have the leisure of being included in her circle of friends (no matter how small it might be), she was going to cut off all ties with that Goth-wannabe Gwen.

"Heather plays second fiddle to no one in relationships or competitions!" Heather smirked evilly when she saw the item from Gwen's pile that had accidentally hit her- the book called _The Great Book of Voodoo (and Hoodoo) Spells, Charms, and Rituals_. "Especially in million dollar ones…"

Heather glanced over to Justin, who was still gazing into the pool trying to find the bruise Heather had pointed out moments before, and then back at the spell book. Technically, even though Duncan had won, he still hadn't received the million dollars yet- not for two more days.

"Perhaps this game isn't over quite yet." Heather mused as she leafed through the pages of the book. Her eyes fell on one page, and, after briefly scanning the crudely written description on the yellow page, a nasty scheme began to unfold within the depths of her wicked mind. With an evil smirk spread across her beautiful face, she called out to Justin.

"Hey Justin, eyes off the reflection! I believe I found something that might interest you more."

"More interesting than this?" Justin pointed at his gloriously handsome face.

Heather smirked. "How about a million dollars more interesting?"

That caught the model's attention. "Keep talking."

She held the book up. "How far are you willing to go to win that million?"

"Well, since this competition completely mangled my perfect face and ruined my modeling career, I'd say pretty far."

Her smirk became quite diabolic.

"Good, because I think I have an idea…."

Unknownst to the rest of the relaxing campers and cast mates, underneath the palm trees, two greedy antagonists were brewing up a malevolent scheme that would lead to the downfall of one certain mohawked millionaire.

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen," Chris announced, beaming and throwing his arms up in a dramatic manner. "I am proud to present, the number fan favorite, the new delinquent millionaire, and the winner of Total Drama Action…..DUNCAN!" He gestured towards the glass door of the hotel lobby.

Duncan walked through the sliding doors with a smug smirk on his face as a loud applause echoed throughout the lobby. However, the smirk left his face when he realized that none of contestants were actually clapping. Some, like Noah, Beth, and Lindsay, were reading a book or fashion magazine. Trent was at a corner, tuning up his guitar. Gwen and LeShawna were chatting. Katie and Sadie were dreamily staring at Trent. DJ was playing with Bunny. Cody was watching Harold do some tricks with his yo-yo. Eva was lifting weights with Tyler beside her, trying desperately to keep up. Owen was at the snack bar, eating a large subway sandwich. Geoff and Bridgette were making out…as usual. The only ones missing were Justin, Heather, Courtney, and…strangely, Izzy. Everyone had ignored Chris and Duncan's arrival.

"Wait, where's the clapping coming from?" Duncan asked in a slightly bewildered and annoyed manner.

Chris gave a broad grin, showing off his overly shiny teeth. "I programmed the door to make an applauding noise every time you come in."

Duncan's eyebrow raised slightly in surprise. Okay…that was weird, yet ego-boosting.

"Should we ask why?" Gwen asked, pausing from her conversation with Leshawna.

"To make the rest of you jealous and aware of the losers you are." Chris said. He yelped and ducked when a voodoo doll resembling the host was thrown at him. The TDA host shot the grinning Gwen a glare.

"I saw that! Don't get mad at me! It's not my fault all of you got voted off and beat by a smart-mouth punk!" Chris screamed and ducked when a storm of objects were thrown at him-including a book, magazine, hairbrush, yo-yo, and guitar.

"HA! YOU MISSED!" Chris yelled in triumphed. A wooden skull slammed him in the back of the head and knocked him to the ground.

"Oops." Duncan smirked.

At that moment, Courtney walked through the glass doors, talking into her PDA and oblivious to the Chris-hating going on.

"Hey Princess," Duncan smoothly greeted. "Or should I be calling you 'Queen', now?"

Courtney scowled. "How about calling me by my real name?" Suddenly she felt her foot fall on something soft. She looked down at saw that she was standing on the Chris voodoo doll. She picked it up and stared in disgust. "Ew, a mini Chris." Courtney then noticed the large pile of objects on the floor and stomped her foot. "Okay, what's with all the littering? There's garbage bins next to the buffet bar!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING LITTER!" Chris said, poking his head out from the pile and glaring at the bossy brunette.

"…..I still stand by my previous statement."

"SIT DOWN!" Chris yelled. When both Courtney and Duncan took seats next to Geoff and Bridgette, the host pulled himself out of the missile pile and dusted himself off before addressing the cast mates.

"As I was saying before I was _violently _interrupted," he cast a dark, accusing glare at everyone in the room, particularly at Gwen who smirked and waved her fingers at him. "As you all know, Total Drama Action has come to and end and…."

"Bad boy won. End of story." LeShanwan interrupted. "When are you going to let us go home? It's been like almost five months!"

"It's been that long?" Lindsay gasped and looked worried. "Jeez, I hope my pet goldfish still remembers me."

"I seriously doubt that." Cody said. "I heard that a goldfish's memory only last for about five seconds."

"Wow, Carter, I never knew that!"

"It's Cody."

Lindsay blinked. "Colin?"

Beside Cody, Noah rolled his eyes and sighed. "Like pet like owner."

"Stop interrupting me!" Chris snapped making the contestants shut their mouths. "Yes, Duncan shall receive his money during a big ceremony that will take place in two days at the Gilded Chris reward stage. Consider it like the Oscar rewards….except with me!"

Nobody cracked a smile.

Chris frowned. "Just trying to spread the cheer."

"We were feeling pretty cheerful throwing stuff at you." Noah retorted.

"Besides that," Chris continued, purposely ignoring the last remark. "the only other thing I have to announce is that since Chef will be unable to be with us for the next couple of days…"

"Where is he? Is he okay?" Beth asked in a concerned manner.

Chris scowled. "Oh, you guys care about Chef and not me? What's your deal?"

"Chef at least feeds us." Harold wheezed, "Or at least attempts to. You, on the other hand, merely exist to make our lives as miserable as possible."

"Well, I hate the both of you equally," Duncan said, teal eyes narrowing in anger "especially for the fact that both you almost killed me with a frinkin' safe!"

"Ungrateful brats…" Chris grumbled before resuming his announcement. "Anyway, Chef is at Camp Wananakwa, working on a special, top secret project for the show."

None of the contestants liked the sound of that. What was _special_ to Chris meant dangerously painful to the rest of them.

"And in Chef's place," Chris continued, shoving a blonde-headed intern before him, "will be this intern, Joe!"

"Er…My name is..uh..Billy, Mr. McLean." The intern nervously stuttered.

"Whatever! Billy will act as my assistant and will be in charge of taking care of all your personal needs and complaints." Chris said with a happy smile on his face. "So until the reward ceremony, don't come crying to me!" He placed some sunglasses on. "Hello vacation time! They're all yours, what's your name!" With that, the host left to go catch some sun by the pool, leaving the unfortunate intern to deal with the rowdy teenagers.

"Uhh…" the intern looked like deer caught in a headlight. "…nice to meet you?"

Geoff and Tyler shared evil smirks while Duncan cracked his knuckles.

"So you're the new Chris?" Eva growled, dropping her dumbbells.

"Uhhh….I…er…I'm his…um…assistant…"

"Good enough for me!" The body builder snarled and pointed. "GET HIM!"

"Pool time!" Tyler yelled, following after Eva and the small group of contestants that had grabbed the screaming intern and were heading to the pool area.

"Don't tell me you're going to watch that barbaric display!" Courtney asked seeing Duncan get up and head for the door.

Duncan turned back and said, "Uh, hello? Heck yeah! Relax, we're just going to show him the ropes. Besides, if I'm lucky, Chris will be at the pool and I can throw him in too!"

Courtney opened her mouth to make a comeback but thought better of it. "…Good point."

Duncan offered out his hand. "Want to come too? Let out some of that wild side?" He wriggled his eyebrow in a suggestive manner.

Courtney declined his off with a repulsive look. "No, I'm going back to my room." She stood up and began to walk towards the elevator.

"To do what?" Duncan angrily demanded. Though he didn't want to admit it, her refusal stung a bit. The delinquent had thought they were a couple again.

As the elevator doors opened and she stepped in, Courtney turned her head towards Duncan and gave him a smug smirk.

"To complete a list on what I'm going to do with my half of the reward money." She said as the elevator doors closed and blocked her view from the shocked and slightly hurt look on Duncan's face.

Duncan sighed and ran a hand through his bright green Mohawk. Sure he was happy that he and Courtney were back together, but honestly he was still uncertain on whether she was with him because she liked him or because of the million. At one time, he had been so sure that Courtney (no matter how many times she had denied it) was totally in to him.

Now….now he wasn't so sure.

"Oh, what's this? Is the delinquent having love trouble?" a feminine voice insulted.

Duncan turned to see a bald-headed Heather standing in the glass doorway, staring at him with a mocking sneer on her beautiful face.

* * *

**I'm sorry to say that I had to make Heather the villain in this story. Justin I'm okay with, but I honestly grew to really Heather like over the course of Total Drama Action. However, her performance during the TDA final showed me that she still seemed pretty desperate and bad enough to seek revenge and use some backhanded method to try and get Duncan's million. Yes, Courtney's being a jerk right now. I love her to death, but once again, the TDA final made me a little suspicious on whether Courtney's still with Duncan because of the money or because she truly loves him. We probably won't find out until TDM. I believe she truly loves him, but that's the dilemma that Duncan will be dealing with in this story. Don't worry, this will be end with DxC. **

**Btw, I'm from Louisiana and have been to New Orleans a couple times (one of the reasons why I loved the Princess and the Frog so much) so I know a bit about the whole voodoo and hoodoo stuff. If you're wondering what a gris-gris bag is, it's just a bag of herbs that bring good luck, love, wealth, or whatever you want.**

**Anywho, hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! I have pictures of Duncan and Courtney as spiders up on my Deviantart account! Enjoy and Review!**


	2. Who You Trying to Convince?

**Since today is my last day of winter break, I decided to hurry up and finish the second chapter to the story. I'm sorry to say that it's not as long as I wanted it to be, but it's a good transition towards all the action in the next chapter. Next chapter's when all the fun starts to happen! As I said before, I'll try to keep this story updated at least once a week. Anywho, enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Total Drama stuff or the Princess and the Frog...though I seriously wish I did.**

* * *

Duncan turned to face Heather and was opened his mouth- most likely to tell her to go get in a fight with a razor or some other rude crack about her baldness- but then he got a good look at her and was stunned into silence. His teal eyes grew wide with surprised as he continued to stare in astonishment at the villainous chick approaching.

The head that was just this morning covered in skin now held a flowing trail of luscious, raven-black hair.

Heather sensed his surprise and sexily flipped the long raven locks over her shoulders, smirking. "I see you've seen the new improvement."

Duncan gave a jerkish scoff. "Please, anything is an improvement from the wigs you've been wearing. Where do you get the last one? The Ringling Brothers' hand-me-down collection?" He leaned towards her and took a strand between his fingers, giving it an experimental rub. "Hmm…weird. It feels real."

Heather growled and slapped his hand away. "That because it is real, you skeeze!"

"Pffft! Impossible!" Duncan argued, crossing his arms. "Not even Owen can grow hair that fast. Trust me, I've had to use the shower after one of his armpit shaving days!" After that, Duncan had learned to always be the first one to take a shower.

"Oh it's possible." Heather stated with one hand on her hip and casually examining the fingernails of the other. Her slate-gray gaze slyly slid over to Duncan. "Especially if you have friends like mine."

"Queen Bee has friends?" Duncan laughed. "I find you miraculously gaining hair-growing powers more believable than that."

Heather bit back a snide insult she longed to throw at the vile criminal's face. She had to focus! The delinquent would get his due all in good time….she just needed to play the cards the right.

She acted indifferent to the insult and continued to play it cool, keeping the smug smirk on her face. "Ha-ha. Very funny." Heather slid closer to the Duncan, almost pressing against his skulled chest. She tilted her head upward, gazing up his bewildered face with a coy smile on hers. "You know, my _friends_ might be able to help you with your little love problem."

Duncan shuddered uncomfortably at Heather's closeness and instinctively took a couple steps back, distancing himself from her. If there was one thing he'd learn from staying in the game for two seasons, it was that being close to Heather never led to anything good. For him, it had led to him and Owen losing a challenge and him being kicked off…AND it also led him to having to clean to the bathrooms for her High Bitchiness! Nope! He'd learned his lesson.

"What makes you think I have a love problem?" Duncan asked, acting unconcerned.

Heather rolled her eyes at the idiot's denial. "Oh please, everyone knows that you're walking on thin ice with Ms. CIT."

"What are you talking about? Courtney and I are doing great! She's all over me!" An uncomfortable feeling washed over Duncan as he said those words. They sounded…wrong…as if they didn't belong to him. He hid his discomfort by snapping at Heather. "And why you even care anyway? You've never worried anyone's relationship problems before!" He blinked and quickly added, "Not that there are any."

"Well, we were teammates for quite while during this season." Heather pointed out. "And as your teammate, I'm trying to make sure that you don't make a big mistake."

"Like the one I'm making now by listening to you?" Duncan retorted.

"I'm being serious." Heather snapped, glaring. "The only reason that Courtney went back to your sorry criminal butt is because you won the million! How's that for a good relationship?"

Heather's biting words hit Duncan like a slap in the face…scratch that…it was more like that safe from the last challenge crushing him again. Heather saw the expression on Duncan's face- a mix of anger and shock- and smirked. She had definitely hit a mark.

Duncan gave his head a quick shake, snapping out of his stunned state, and fixed Heather with a withering glare, eyebrow furrowed with anger. "That's not true! Princess has always had the hots for me. She just had too much of a pole up her butt to admit it."

"Oh yes, we definitely saw how much she loved you when she broke up with you…on live television….screaming about how much she hated your guts." She cruelly added.

Duncan flinched as if slapped. "She was just letting out anger. Courtney knows how the game works…she knew it was going to happen sooner or later." Perhaps he should apologize to her about that…just in case.

"Courtney definitely knows how the game works." Heather said, darkly grinning as if she were enjoying the whole conversation, "She proved that when she abandoned you on the beach with a sprained ankle for a million dollars. Such deep devotion…"

"She voted for me!" Duncan growled, beginning to really get ticked off.

"Seriously, is that the best you can come up with?" Heather scoffed. "That was just a splat of ink on toilet paper that Chris _presumed-_" She used air-quoted. "-was a vote for you. Courtney could have easily voted for Beth to get back at you." She victoriously folded her arms over her chest. "Face it, Dunky, Courtney's feelings towards you are as fickle as they come. Make one false move and you can say good-bye to Ms. Priss."

"You…she….oh, SCREW OFF!" Duncan yelled, finally having enough. "I don't know why I'm even still talking to you. Like you, of all people, would anything about relationships except how to ruin them." He turned his back to her, fists clenched, and began to angrily stomp away. "I'm out! You want to find me I'll be at the pool torturing the new intern!"

Heather called after him. "Fine, be that way, but before you go, answer me one question. Who are you really trying to convince? Me," the raven-haired girl smirked, "or yourself?"

Duncan stopped dead in his tracks, hand inches away from grasping the exit. Though his back towards her, Duncan's blue pupils had flickered from the door to Heather.

Heather stared at the delinquent's frozen backside and sneered in triumphant. He was all hers.

"Well," she purred, stretching her arms and beginning to walk away. "I can see you're ready to go off making a criminal out of yourself. If you feel like trying to rebuild whatever scrap of a relationship you still have with your precious princess, you know where to find me." Heather pressed the 'up' button on the elevator and stepped in once the doors slid open. She turned and Duncan still standing by the glass doors, unmoving. "I'm sure my _friends_ would love to help."

The elevator doors closed.

Duncan remained where he stood, hand still hovering indecisively over the door handle. Despite the fact that he hated Heather's guts and wanted nothing more than to forget this entire conversation, the chick's words continued to replay themselves again and again inside his head. Even though all the acts that Courtney had committed- breaking up with him, abandoning him for a million bucks- had been true, that still didn't mean that she didn't care for Duncan as much as he cared for her…

Right?

Duncan lifted his head and stared at his reflection, identically blue eyes blinking sadly back at him through the glass. Or maybe Heather was right. Maybe he was just trying to fool himself. Maybe it wasn't Heather he had been trying to prove wrong….

….it was himself.

Slowly, Duncan's hand fell away from the door. He ran a hand over his hair and face and muttered, annoyed, "I can't believe I'm actually doing this."

The delinquent continued to shake his head in disbelief even as he walked towards the elevators. Once the doors opened and Duncan stepped through and went up towards the top floors, something in lobby began to move.

Where the pile of objects that the contestants had thrown at Chris stood, something began to slowly crawl its way to the top. The top item, Harold's yo-yo, was pushed away by a stumpy arm made of rags. The voodoo doll that Gwen had thrown at Chris stood up on its ragdoll legs and watched the elevator move up with Duncan inside it, button eyes narrowed in keen interest.

A wicked sneer stretched across the voodoo doll's face. It let out an evil cackle and the Chris clothes that Gwen has put on it earlier slowly burned away. The ashes of the old clothes fell away and reveal the voodoo doll with a new appearance.

It now looked just like Duncan.

* * *

**Is it wrong to be a Duncan and Courtney shipper and yet strangely enjoy Duncan/Heather?xD I don't know why, but I found the small amount of flirting that passed between the two in the last two season kind of cute. Ahem, back to the story. As you have probably already guessed, Heather will be play the Dr. Facilier's part in this story. Justin...you know what, nevermind. I'm saving that for chapter four. There will be characters playing the parts of Ray and Louis in this story, though I'll have you guys guess who they are. Don't worry, the rest of the contestants will be talking and appearing in the story pretty soon- Harold, Izzy, and Ezekiel in particular will play some good roles in the story.**

**Oh and the reason for the voodoo doll at end?**

**....Well, I just liked the voodoo dolls in the movie. Seriously, they played wicked drums and should have appeared Okay, okay, there's an actual reason for it being there, but I ain't sayin' nothing!**

**Anywho, please review!**


	3. Friends On the Other Side!

**As promised, here's the chapter for this week! This is the chapter where things start to heat up and the fun begins. I want to thank everything that reviewed for the last two chapters. Your support is really appreciated! Hope you guys enjoy the third chapter!**

**---------**

"Have the candles?"

"Check."

"Are they green?"

"Uh, all Chris had in his room were pink ones."

"Whatever. Did you draw the circle?"

"Yeah."

"Idiot! That looks more like an oval! Do it again!" Heather snapped, pointing at the chalk drawn circle that Justin had drawn on the floor of the hotel room Heather was staying in. She sat on the edge of her bed, barking orders at Justin while running fingers through her beautiful raven-black hair. A tingle of joy ran through her at the soft feel of her brand new hair. It felt so good not being bald!

"Heather, are you sure we should be doing this?" Justin asked, as he lifted himself up from the floor and wiped the white chalk from his hands. "I mean, I'm all for tricking Duncan and stealing the million dollars from him but…." His brain struggled with the words. "I dunno. This seems a little too weird."

Heather shot her handsome accomplice a scathing glare. "Please, is this any weirder than anything we've add to do in the last two season of this crappy show?"

Justin looked around at Heather's room; there was now a large circle of chalk covering the floor, the lights were off with light only coming from the candles that were everywhere- floor, dressers, bed, and there was a giant spell book lying open in the middle of the circle. The whole setting looked kind of creepy.

"…Yeah, I would say a whole lot weirder." He admitted. When Heather started to growl and, strangely enough, her hair began to slightly rise with her rage, Justin held up his hands in defense. "Look, all I'm saying is that a lot of things can go wrong. How do you if those spirit voodoo things are going to come and help us?"

"Trust me, I know." Heather said, giving a confident smirk as she patted her long, lustrous hair. "I tested it out about two hours ago and asked the spirits from the other side to give me new hair."

Justin blinked and stared. Had all his hairspray gone to his head or was Heather's new hair moving a little? The handsome hunk shook his head. Maybe he was just overworking his brain. Deciding not to dwell on it, Justin raised a perfectly waxed eyebrow and asked, "And they just gave it to you? Didn't ask for anything in return?"

"Oh, well, they did." Heather replied sounding completely unconcerned by the matter. She began to file her fingernails. "But I told them about the plan and I agreed to split some of the reward with them."

"Oh." Justin didn't really like the idea of having to share the money with both Heather and some greedy spirits, but hey, if it got him at least some of the million…

"Hey wait, where's my role in all this?" Justin asked. He knew that Heather was going to perform the spell to call in the voodoo spirits, but what was he supposed to do besides steal chalk and candles? "It better not be something that I'll mess up my face!"

Heather flashed him a suspiciously sweet smile. "Oh, don't worry. All you have to do is make sure that Duncan stays in the circle while I perform the spell."

"Okay," Justin said, "but how do you know that Duncan is even coming? He doesn't like either of us."

At that moment, somebody knocked at Heather's door.

Heather leaped from the bed, hair flowing behind her. "That's him!" She shot Justin a glare. "Hide!"

Justin dove into her closet just as Heather strode across the length of her room and reached the door. She opened it a crack and saw Duncan's scowling face glaring at hers.

"You have five minutes." Duncan growled in a threatening manner. He held up his hand, spreading his fingers. "FIVE!" he repeated, clenching the hand into a fist. "After that, there's a pool screaming to have an intern thrown in it."

"Oh, don't worry. This won't take long." Heather said before quickly grabbing the delinquent's arm and roughly pulling him into her room, Duncan uttering a loud "Hey!" in surprise all the while.

Once pulled inside, Duncan looked around the darkened hotel room which was lit only by a couple of pink candles; his blue eyes were wide and he had an eyebrow raised in suspicion. "Okay, did you and Gwen switch rooms?" he asked, noting the dark creepiness radiating from every fiber of the room.

"Like I'd ever voluntary sleep in the same room that Goth freak's been in." Heather scornfully replied, ignoring the glare that Duncan shot her- Gwen was one of his best friends on the show. Heather gestured towards the candles. "The lights in my room just went out."

If Duncan had found the quick answer a little too suspicious, he simply ignored the gut feelings and shrugged. It wasn't as if he was going to be staying long anyway. Duncan just wanted to find out what these _**friends **_of Heather had to say about his and Courtney's relationship and leave. Heather walked across the room with Duncan following behind. From the closet, Justin was watching everything though a crack in the doorway. The moment the dark-haired, mohawked delinquent unwarily stepped inside the chalk circle drawn into the floor, all the candles' flames flickered at once as if a strange wind had blown through. Strangely shaped shadows slowly rose from the floor like dead rising from the graves; each shadow had ghastly expressions where their faces should be.

Of course, Duncan noticed none of this.

The delinquent stood in the middle of the room, arms crossed over his chest and glaring at Heather through half-lidded eyes. "So," he said, throwing his arms out, "I'm here. Where are you're so called _friends_?" The shadows gathered behind him, reflected in the candlelight. Out of pure instinct, Duncan whirled around as if sensing another presence. Instantly, the shadows scattered like cockroaches and Duncan saw nothing. He scratched the back of his, slightly puzzled. He could have sworn…

"Don't worry, you'll see them soon." Heather reassured, eyes narrowed into dark grey slits as she stared at him. She looked like a cat that had just trapped a mouse between its claws. To someone like Duncan, who was used to being the predator, it began to deeply unnerve him for reasons he couldn't understand. He knew Heather was a bitch to everyone, but usually he was on even ground with her. Heather might be able manipulate people like Beth and Lindsay- honestly, who couldn't?- and be able to trick Gwen and Trent- Duncan wondered how someone like Gwen could fall for such a gullible guy-, but he was usually too street smart and independent to fall for Heather's tricks. He formed an alliance with her once in the show, but on his own terms and for his own gain. When it came down to it, Duncan and Heather were pretty evenly matched competitors.

But not right now. Right now, Duncan knew that Heather was hiding something- he was sure of it. She knew something that he didn't…something that gave her the upper hand. But what was it? Duncan had no weaknesses! He had no secrets! He had nothing that Heather could hold against him!

…Crap, she found the picture of Courtney under his pillow, hadn't she?

"Were you sneaking in my room?!" Duncan demanded, pointing an accusing finger at the devious, black-hearted witch. Unknowingly behind him, the shadows looked at each other, shaking their shadowy heads in puzzlement.

Heather looked genuinely confused. "Uhh...no?"

Duncan exhaled and wiped his forehead with relief. "Good, the picture under my pillow is safe…"

"What was that?" Heather asked.

"Nothing." Duncan said, mentally slapping himself. "Now about those friends…"

Heather stood up the bed and slowly strode over to where Duncan stood. Her long, sable hair swished back and forth behind him as if taken a life of its own. She stopped before Duncan, hands on her hips and with a rare smile stretched across her face.

"Before you meet my _friends_, I first need to know that you'll trust me with this." Heather said, sounding as sincere as could be. She placed a hand over her heart as she spoke. "You're a good teammate. Our team wouldn't have made it as far as it did without you as a Captain."

Suspicious or not, Duncan couldn't help but give a cocky smirk at the comment. "You're right about that!"

"Right," Heather said in a cold voice before continuing with the previous warmer tone, "For that reason, I want to help you catch Courtney in your web again. Instead of you crawling to her, she'll be crawling back to you." She held out her hand towards the delinquent. "So," she purred, "what do you say? Want to shake on it?"

Duncan warily stared at her outstretched hand as if it held a poisonous spider, and made no move towards it. His blue eyes flicked up at Heather, brow lowered and raised in a fashion that clearly said _"Are you kidding me?"_

Heather rolled her eyes in reply. "Come on! It's just a handshake!"

Duncan's eyes moved from Heather to her hand once again. His own hand slowly came up and moved towards Heather's. It felt as though time had stood still. Every presence, known or not, seemed to be holding their breath in anticipation.

At last, Duncan's hand grasped Heather's. They shook.

"Now what?" the delinquent asked, looking unimpressed. He looked up to gaze at Heather's face and then let out a gasp of shock, letting go of Heather's hand and stumbling backwards, almost falling, his wide blue eyes never leaving the sight of Heather.

Heather stood with a devious sneer painted upon her face, staring at Duncan through wicked narrowed eyes; behind her head, Heather's long black hair had risen up into the hair and was withering and thrashing as if it had a mind of its own.

"Now, criminal, you going to finally meet my _**friends**_ on the other side!" Heather darkly chuckled. She lifted her arms up and the candle flames rose and flared like a sprout of fire, casting light of dark red and purple all over the room. The shadow beings shrieked in wicked delight and whirled across the floors and ceilings of the room, casting Duncan evil, gleeful expressions with slanted eyes and jagged teeth.

"What the hell is this?" Duncan yelled, staring all around at whirlwind of shadows and flames. He tried to back away towards to the door but suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around his neck in a tight head lock. He gasped for breath and managed to twist his head around enough to see the face of his attacker.

"JUSTIN?!" Duncan gasped.

"Going somewhere?" Justin sneered, tightening his hold.

"Okay, Heather's hair is alive, Justin's helping with voodoo magic, there are creepy shadow things crawling on walls like flies." Duncan choked out, trying to loosen Justin's grasp around his neck. "C-Can this get any weirder?"

Suddenly the door slammed opened and revealed Gwen's voodoo doll, which now bared a resemblance to Duncan rather than Chris.

"COME ON!" Duncan complained to whatever force was at work. "It was a rhetorical question!"

The fiendish little ragdoll scampered across the room, the door slamming shut behind it. It let out an inhuman squeal and came to a halt by the open spell book. It gave a nasty smile and there was a small _Poof!_ which included a puff of purple smoke. When the purplish smoke cleared, Duncan saw that there were now three voodoo dolls- ones resembling Justin and Heather as well.

"Are you ready?" Heather loudly asked, eyes shining with wicked delight. She was enjoying the overwhelming sense of power consuming her. The shadows beings crowed and seemed to scatter around the room surfaces even more wildly than before. The voodoo dolls smiled evilly at each other and took needles out of their rag bodies. They began beating them against the floor making the sound of drums echo throughout the room.

"_TRANSFORMATION!"_ the creepy dolls chanted. _"TRANSFORMATION!"_

"Care to tell me what they're talking about?" Duncan ventured to ask, rolling his eyes to Justin. The model looked just as clueless as Duncan and shrugged his shoulders in response.

The drumbeat grew faster as the shadows' cackles became louder. The Justin and Duncan voodoo dolls started to unleash a purple-red light. Two shadows rose from within the ragged figures and shot towards both Duncan and Justin, going through their bodies.

"AARGGH!!" the two boys screamed, their blue eyes stretched out in shock and horror. Spiraling green light circled around each of them. In his stunned surprise, Justin had let go of Duncan. The delinquent stumbled to his knees, hands holding his head, with green light partially clouding his vision. Before him, Heather seemed to towering over him as if he were growing smaller. Duncan gazed down at his body and his mouth open, as if unleashing a silent scream. It was changing! He could if it morphing, turning him into something inhuman as he grew smaller and smaller and smaller…

"Your million dollars are mine!" He heard Heather cruelly proclaim through blinding green light. "Thanks to my _**friends **_on the other side!"

Everything around Duncan had become giant, all the lights and shadows were blurring into a giant whirlwind of chaos and he felt as though he was seeing four of everything. His head pounded with pain and dizziness. Voices roared all around him.

"_**YOU GOT WHAT YOU WANTED!"**_

"**_BUT YOU LOST WHAT YOU HAD!"_**

Finally Duncan looked down at his body, gave a strangled gasp, and all went black for him.

-------

**My twin sister complained because I didn't make Heather sing. I'm sorry to say that I won't have the characters sing the songs from the movie (though I love the songs to death). The goal of this story is to show how I believe the plot of the Princess and Frog would play out in the Total Drama universe. Since there's no million dollars being offered to the characters like in TDM, they're not singing. I added the voodoo dolls singing if that makes you guys feel any better! **

**The next chapter is probably going to be my favorite to write...mainly because it shows what happens to I'm so cruel to him in this If you've seen the movie, then probably you guys can guess what's happened to him. Anywho, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Read and review!**


	4. Along Came a Spider

**Back with this week's update! Just some advice for the readers, Sunday or Monday will usually be my updating days. I want to thank everyone that was kind enough to review for the story. Here's some feedback for some of the reviewers.**

**Who Cares: Don't worry, I was never going to make Heather suffer the same fate as Facilier in the story. I'm trying to make everything seem as accurate to TDI/TDA universe as possible while still making it have the same feel as the movie. The ending of the story is going to have a couple of changes to make it just as climatic as the end of The Princess and the Frog except without anyone dying.**

**CarmillaD: Wow, your reviews were a pleasure to read! I loved your guesses for who will take on the different roles in the story. Your Justin and Heather guesses were spot on though I'm going to have to surprise you on your other guesses. I'm extremely happy that you caught the foreshadowing references that Heather used. It was tough trying to make her speech similar to that of Facilier's. Haha, thanks for mentioning Sedusa. I forgot all about that villianess. I just made Heather's hair become life-like to have it parallel with Facilier's shadow.**

**LiveLaughInvade: There's a link to my deviantart account on my profile. **

**Another big thanks to the rest of my reviewers! I hope you guys enjoy the newest chapter!**

* * *

In room 202 of the third floor of Suite de Loser, a certain uptight brunette was completely unaware of the magical fiasco taking place exactly five doors down the hallway. Instead, she was sitting at a writing desk in her room, comfortably and obliviously typing a rather long and unnecessarily detailed list that featured all the items (in alphabetically _and_ chronological order, mind you) that she was going to purchase with her half of Duncan's million. Half the list has something to do with college, paying back her lawyers, and future investments.

"Item 154: Get new PDA." Courtney typed onto her laptop. She glanced down at her current PDA and grimaced with distaste at the state it was in. Stained with tomato juice, half-chewed to pieces by sharks, and crackling with static after being thrown through a window out of a moving limousine; it was clear the poor device hadn't faired well from its experience in Total Drama Action.

"You had a good run." Courtney commented out loud, holding up the dysfunctional PDA, "At least you lasted longer than Mr. Coconut and Scruffy on the show." Courtney stood from her desk and walked across the room to the bed, where her opened suitcase was laying.

The short-haired CIT placed her RIP-marked device on top of her neatly packed away white shirts, purple sweaters, and olive pants and noticed something poking out of the latter. She gently pulled the corner of a purple sweater aside and saw it- a small wooden skull.

List and PDA forgotten, Courtney reached down and held the skull that Duncan had given her in the palm of her hand. Though the strange item was, in her opinion, quite creepy and weird, it still managed to make her heart skip a beat.

A rare smile lit up her face as she softly stroked the skull's wooden surface, memories of that one night alone with Duncan blossoming like flowers in her mind….sneaking into the boathouse…stealing all that food….sharing a kiss…….

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" A loud scream that seemed to be filled with all the horror the world had to offer echoed throughout the hotel.

"Eep!" Courtney let out a shriek of surprise and promptly dropped the skull. It bounced and rolled across the floor, under her bed.

"What was that?" Courtney asked to no one in particular. It sounded like someone was in deep pain and distress. She ran to the door and opened it; she struck her head out into the hallway and looked down both ends, dark eyes searching for whatever had made that terrible sound.

* * *

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The distressed scream could be heard outside at well. All the contestants at the pool area paused from what they were doing, looked up, and then gazed at each other in confusion.

"Uh, what the hell was that?" asked Gwen in slight puzzlement. She was clan in a black two-piece swimsuit and was standing waist deep in the pool. In her hands was a volleyball that she had been about to throw over the pool net at Trent and LeShawna. They had been in the midst of playing pool volleyball.

"Dunno." Cody replied. He was on Gwen's team. The techno-geek tapped his chin in a thoughtful manner. "Though it kind of sounds familiar…"

"Dude, it sounds like someone's having their guts ripped out of them!" Geoff commented in his usual cheerful manner, taking his lips off of Bridgette's for once. He frowned when everyone, including his girlfriend, gave him weird stares.

"What?"

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Let's just get back to the game. Our serve!" She threw the ball and punched it, sending it flying over the net…and over Trent and LeShawna.

"OW!"

The Goth winced. "Sorry, Billy!" She shouted to the new intern.

"It's okay, no harm done!" The poor intern said. He was tied up and hanging over the pool from a lamp post, swinging slightly with every breeze.

On the ground next to the lamppost, Chris, wearing nothing but sunglasses and swimming trunks, was lying out on one of folded out lawn chairs. He let out a content sigh and smiled.

"Isn't training to be a host so much fun?" the sadistic host asked.

The unfortunate intern merely groaned in reply.

* * *

"NOOOOOOOOOO! NOOO! NOOO! NOOOOOO!"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP ALREADY?" Heather screamed, throwing her fists up in anger, having enough of her accomplice's annoying wails of despair.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?" Justin wailed, hands covering his face as he turned away from the mirror and towards Heather. "I'M A MONSTER! _**A MONSTER!**_"

Heather folded her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes, slightly shaking her head. Did Justin really have be such a drama queen? Really, even Duncan hadn't complained this much once he saw what the voodoo spirits had done to him!

"This was all part of the plan, remember?" Heather snapped. The dark-haired girl could hear the three voodoo dolls snickering from the shelf behind her. Why the hell were they even still here? Shouldn't they had gone back into the spirit portal or something once the spell was completed?

"YOU NEVER MENTIONED THAT TURNING ME INTO THIS…" Justin uncovered his face and revealed that he now looked exactly like Duncan. "…WAS PART OF THE PLAN!" The model began to wail once more, hands covering his face. "WAAAHHH! DON'T LOOK AT ME! I'M HIDEOUS! HID-E-OUSSSSS!"

Heather took a step forward and slapped the Duncan look-a-like across the face.

"Snap out of it!" she ordered.

Justin ignored order and threw himself upon Heather, clinging to her shoulders as he piteously sniffled. "Just teach me opera, give me a mask, and throw me into the sewers!" He threw a despairing hand over his forehead. "I'LL NEVER BE BEAUTIFUL AGAIN!"

He was slapped again, except this time by Heather's hair.

Justin blinked and pointed at finger at her scalp. "Uh, did your hair just slap me?"

"SHUT UP AND GET OFF ME!" Heather growled, ignoring Justin's previous question as she pushed the pathetic hottie off. She placed her hands on her hips and fixed Justin with the most severe glare she could mutter.

"Listen up," Heather ordered, pointing a finger in Justin's face. "The plan is for you to look and act like Duncan until we get the money at the reward ceremony! Once we have the million, the shadow spirits will change you back."

"But…I'M DISFIGURED!" Justin whimpered. He pointed at his new Duncan-ified face. "Look at me! I HAVE METAL STICKING TO MY FACE….AND I HAVE ONLY ONE EYEBROW! Honestly, _**WHAT DO FANS FIND APPEALING ABOUT THIS GUY?**_"

"Suck it up! It's only for two days! And for two days we have to keep the real Duncan hidden to make sure nobody finds out the truth." Her grey eyes flickered back and forth, scanning the floor for something. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Where's Duncan?"

"Oh, I put him in that jar." Justin pointed his thumb towards one of the shelves in Heather's room. On it was a tipped over glass jar, lid tossed to the floor. It was empty.

Justin stared at the empty glass prison and then looked back at Heather. Her hair was beginning to writher like live snakes as the expression of rage on her reddening face started to build. The model let out a nervous chuckle.

"Hehe…maybe I should have tightened the lid more?"

Heather then exploded.

"GO FIND THAT _**'CENSORED' **_SPIDER!"

* * *

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Courtney shut her door and commented, "Well, that was strange. That better not be Chris pulling one of his schemes!" The CIT snapped, eyes narrowing into dangerous slits at the thought. That stupid, perverse host was probably trying to think of a way to cheat Duncan out of his money like he did Owen and trick them all into competing for another season like last time.

"_That isn't going to work this time."_ Courtney boastfully thought. She was not going to lose her half of Duncan's money…the half that she rightfully deserved after all she did to help her teams in both seasons! Neither the Killer Grips nor the Killer Bass would have made it as far as they did without her urging them on! Especially those idiotic Killer Grips. It was no secret that most of the Killer Grips hated her now. If she had been on Duncan's team things would have been a lot more…

Wait, speaking of Duncan.

She looked down at her now empty palm and immediately began scanning the floor for the wooden figurine. Courtney' eyebrows furrowed as an irritated look crossed her face. "Great, where did that thing go?" Her searching led her straight back to the desk where her laptop was still opened and had up the list she had been typing early.

"It couldn't have rolled too far." Courtney observed, hands on her hips as she continued to stalk back and forth in front of her desk. She glanced at her laptop and her eyes grew large in surprise.

Besides her laptop, sat the little wooden skull.

"How…?" Courtney tried think of a way to explain how the wooden skull had managed to be placed on her desk. She could directly remember dropping it to the floor after hearing that scream!

She picked up the skull and held it close to her face, scrutinizing it as if making it was the real thing; seeing that it was indeed real, she gave it a slightly affectionate look.

"At least one good thing came out of this stupid competition." She quietly commented, grinning slightly.

"I hope you're talking about that kiss, Princess." A familiar, overly-cocky voice called out.

"NO! I DO NOT MEAN THAT…." Courtney snapped her mouth shut and blinked in shock. "Wait…Duncan?" Her surprised expression turned murderous. "What are you doing in my room?" she growled, turning her head in all directions, trying to locate where Duncan was hiding. "Where are you? Have you ever heard of knocking, you uncivilized Neanderthal? Oooh, when I get my hands on you…" she threatened.

"Hey Queenie! Down here!"

Courtney glanced down to her desk again; the skull immediately fell from her hands. Her eyes grew large while her pupils shrunk down to tiny dark points. Her left eye twitched slightly.

Having come behind her laptop, there stood on her desk a large, black and pale yellow tarantula with blue eyes and a green mohawk.

The hideous eight-legged creature flashed her a fanged grin and lifted one of its front pair of legs up to a wave.

"How you doing, sunshine?"

Courtney unleashed an earth-shattering scream.

* * *

**It took me half an hour to figure out what Duncan's last line was going to be. I kept going over about twenty possible lines to see which ones seemed to fit what Duncan would say to Courtney in this situation. I'm still not entirely happy with it, but meh. The story has to go on...**

**Anyway, I loved writing Justin's part. Yep, he is playing Lawrence in case you haven't guessed. It was fun writing Justin's whole rant because it, in a way, kind of poked fun at Duncan fangirls (which includes myself) because, even though Duncan looks hot animated, I honestly don't see myself falling for a guy with facial piercings and a unibrow in real life. But I'd TOTALLY go for a guy with a mohawk....cause those are cool....and hot.....very hot....*drools*. **

**Anywho, look out for next week's chapter! Go to my profile to see a link to my Deviantart account where you can see a picture of Tarantula Duncan! Read and Review!**


	5. Just One Kiss

**Author's Note: This has probably been my all-time favorite chapter to write. It was so much fun converting this particular scene from the movie into a Total Drama style with Duncan and Courtney. One reason I love this couple so much is because they're fun to write about since most of their conversation is just funny bickering. Again, I would love to thank everyone who has read and reviewed for this story. You guys are the best! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as I did while writing it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama Island/Action or the Princess and the Frog....if I did...well...this story would have probably happened.**

**------**

If tarantulas had ears, then Duncan's ears would be bleeding out his entire blood supply right now. The spider-ified delinquent lifted what he considered were his arms (though they were actually just his front set of legs) and smashed them against the side of his head where he _assumed_ the ears of a spider would be in a desperate effort to lessen the painful affects of Courtney's deafening scream as it echoed throughout the room. Duncan could have sworn he heard a window crack.

Still screaming and staring down at the Duncan tarantula in absolute terror, Courtney hastily backed herself into her bed. She hastily scrambled on top, pulling her legs to her chest and backing up against the wall, getting as far away from the creepy-crawly creature as possible.

"Whoa, whoa, Courtney!" the mohawked tarantula shouted, general concern in his voice as waved his front legs up in the air to get her attention. How in the world could that giant, hideous spider talk, Courtney wondered, and even more importantly, _why did it sound like Duncan_?!

"Jeez! Mellow your yellow would ya? It's just me! Duncan!" the tarantula said, crawling with his eight, _disgustingly hairy_ legs to the edge of the desk. He leaped down from the desk onto the floor and started to crawl towards the bed, still shouting up at her from the ground. "Look, I didn't mean to scare you...Okay, maybe I did. But…" The black and pale yellow tarantula was cut off a purple sweater came flying towards him. He quickly ducked and it flopped to the ground in a messy, wrinkled pile a few feet away.

"_YOU ARE NOT DUNCAN_!" Courtney shrieked. There was a pair of olive green pants in her clenched fist in which she rampantly launched at the talking spider.

"HEY! Watch it!" Duncan complained, narrowly dodging the oncoming pants.

"_THE DUNCAN I KNOW IS A HUMAN BEING-!_"

Courtney seemed to be ferreting through her entire suitcase, picking up various pieces of clothing and items to throw at Duncan, emphasizing every single word she said with each throw. Duncan was struggling in his spider body to try and duck and dodge every missile, shouting out profanities and complaints all the while. He had managed to dodge picture frame, mirror, and hairbrush when a flying white shirt suddenly landed on top of Duncan, covering his entire body.

"_-NOT A DISGUSTING, REVOLTING, REPULSIVE, HAIRY TALKING ARACHNID!"_

Duncan managed to wriggle his spider self out from under the white shirt. He shot a glare up in Courtney's direction. "Calm down already! Enough with the target practice! For goodness sake, how much stuff do you have packed up there, woman?"

"_**STOP TALKING TO ME!"**_

"Whoa!" Duncan hid his head underneath the white shirt as an incoming shoe narrowly missed taking off his head. "Okay! Stop! Stop! Enough!" He hugged the shirt close to his spider chest and pointed a threatening finger...arm…leg…at Courtney. "Princess, put the PDA down this…_**OOF**_!" Duncan was knocked head over legs to the ground by well-aimed PDA. He picked himself back up, mohawk ruffled and looking quite dazed with blue eyes rolling dizzily.

Courtney grabbed the last item in her suitcase left to throw, which was the Chris autobiography book that she had won during the rock and roll genre challenge, and held it over her head like a weapon, glaring down Duncan.

"I'm warning you," Courtney threatened in deadly tones, raising the book higher. "If you come any closer, your spider butt is squashed meat!"

Usually, when Courtney threatened him like this, Duncan would just smirk and comment about how hot she looked when she in a deadly rage. However, now that he was about a hundred times smaller than usual and had no means to defend himself, the delinquent was feeling_ slightly_ worried about his odds of coming out her bedroom alive. He speedily climbed up onto the wooden dresser that stood next to the bed.

"Sweetheart, _please_!" Duncan yelled, desperately waving his front legs in a gesture for her to wait before striking him down. "Let me explain!"

Courtney seemed to hesitate, lowering the book a fracture and fixing him with an intense stare.

Duncan gave a sigh of relief. Finally! The transformed delinquent straightened the top portion of his spider body upright so that he could use his front two legs as arms and gazed up at Courtney to begin speaking.

"Look, I know it might sound strange, but I really am Dun..."

_**CRUNCH! **_The Chris autobiography came crashing down before he could finish.

"…_can._" Duncan's finished, voice greatly muffled from underneath the book and filled with immense pain. Only his eight, black striped legs were visible and they were twitching in agony.

"That serves you right!" Courtney snapped, lifting the book up and glaring at the squashed Duncan, who, _surprisingly_, was still alive, though a bit squashed. "I told you not to come any closer!" She hugged the book to her chest and pointed an accusing finger at the tarantula. "Besides, you can't be Duncan!"

Duncan managed to wobbly stand back up on all eight legs. He held one leg up to steady his spinning head. This girl was going to kill him by the time he got done explaining what happened! He shook his head, getting his senses straight again.

"What do you mean, 'I can't be Duncan'?" Duncan replied annoyed. "Look at me!"

Courtney leaned forward towards the dresser, gazing at the tarantula with piecing dark eyes. Despite her misgivings, Courtney had to admit that the tarantula before her _**did **_look a bit like Duncan: most of the spider's body was black like Duncan's shirt, except the large round green mark on the back and for his legs, which were colored the same pale yellow as Duncan's undershirt; the legs also had black stripes that resembled the black armband on Duncan's right arm. The spider even had a green mohawk and the same blue eyes as Duncan! Granted, there were an extra set of eyes as well, but still…

Courtney shook her head and waved her hands out in front of her. "No, no, no, no, no! I'm not believing this! This has to a trick set up by Chris…or...or…" her brain was trying to think of a reasonable explanation to explain how any of what she was seeing and hearing was possible. Spiders don't talk! And humans do not change into spiders!

"Or maybe this is all a hallucination caused by stress!" she ventured. Courtney then let out a small cry of despair at the idea. "No! I can't believe it! I'm becoming as crazy as Izzy!"

"Trust me, princess, you're not going crazy." Duncan reassured. _Not __**that **__crazy at least. _He mentally added. Nobody could be as crazy as that redhead! "Heather and Justin did this to me! I went to Heather's room and those two did this weird voodoo…_shadow magic_ thing, and the next thing I knew, I was stuck in a jar looking like Scruffy's long lost twin brother!"

Courtney placed her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. "Oh please, Duncan! Heather and Justin using _voodoo magic_? Do you actually expect me to believe a story as ridiculous as that?!"

Duncan silently gave her the 'are-you-frinking-kidding-me?' look and gestured at his transformed tarantula body.

Courtney blinked in realization. "Oh, right." Then a sudden thought struck down like lightening as something Duncan had said in his explanation hit her. "Wait a second…" The brunette stood up, dark eyes narrowed in suspicion, and pointed an accusing finger at tarantula.

"WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN HEATHER'S ROOM!?"

"Aw, crap." Duncan squeaked, mentally kicking himself over the head. Why had he added that bit of info in there? He could almost feel the book coming down on his head again!

"Nothing happened, Princess." Duncan said as Courtney loomed over him like an eagle ready to strike. "I just needed to speak with her." _About you_, Duncan wanted to add, but he already been beaten and tricked too many times today; now that he was only two inches tall, he only had his pride left, and he _**was not **_going to throw that away by admitting that he had been insincere enough to go begging for relationship advice!

"Oh, like I've never heard that excuse before!" Courtney seethed, voice flaring with anger.

"Look, can we just drop this for now!" Duncan snapped, his temper starting to rise as his patience wore thin. "We have something more important to talk about!"

"Like what?!"

"Like trying change me back to normal!"

"Like I would know how to change you back to normal!" cried Courtney, throwing her hands up in the air in pure frustration. "Stuff like isn't supposed to happen in real life! This feels more like one of Chris's challenges from the fairy-tale movie genre!" She then frowned and moodily crossed her arms, turning her body slightly away from the dresser as she scoffed, "Not that I'd want to help you anymore! A cheater like you deserves punishment like this!"

Duncan was yell about how completely idiotic and untrue Courtney's entire assumption was about him cheating on her with_ Heather_ of all people was, but then something in her words clicked.

"Wait what did you say?"

Courtney whirled around and growled, "I _SAID_ that a cheater like you…"

"No! You said something about fairy tales!" said Duncan. He tapped his front leg to his chin in a thoughtfully manner, trying to remember all fairy tales his mother and older brother and told him as a little kid….there was one that was so familiar…he could have sworn Chris had mentioned it some time during the challenge….no, it wasn't Red Riding Hood…ahem…Hoodlum…

Duncan then remembered the character that Justin had had to play.

"I got it!" Duncan said, a triumphant look crossing his face. "I know how to change back to normal!" The tarantula turned to Courtney, a devious smirk crossing his face. "Hey Princess, how about a kiss?"

"_Excuse me_?! Is making out always the solution to all your problems, you perverted ogre?!"

"Read up on your fairy tales, sweetheart. This is just like that one story about the dude that gets turned into a frog and needs to kiss a girl to change back."

"Oh, do you know how completely delusional that idea sounds? That's just a story! There's no way that'll work!" Courtney ridiculed.

Duncan shrugged his shoulders. "It's worth a shot, and besides…" He leaned closer toward Courtney, wickedly grinning, and gave his eyebrow a suggestive wiggle. "You know you want to."

Courtney had to fight back a gag of repulsion. She stubbornly turned her back away from where Duncan stood. "No! Not in a hundred years! There is no way I am kissing a disgusting, hairy," she shuddered, "absolutely _gross _spider!"

"But you kissed a frog before! During that whole stupid princess, fairy tale song!"

"That was a frog! A frog I can handle! But tarantulas are a whole different story!" Courtney argued. "You have four eyes and eight, hairy legs and worst of all…YOU HAVE NASTY FANGS FULL OF DEADLY VENOM!"

Duncan causally drew his tongue over the two fangs sticking out of his mouth. He smacked his lips in satisfaction. Cool, he was a lethal weapon! However, even though the idea of being one of the most deadly creatures on earth (as if he wasn't already) was an awesome one, being a tiny spider for his entire life didn't sound very appealing in the long run.

"Come on, princess!" Duncan begged, focusing his blue eyes up to her face and giving her the most pleading look that a spider could pull off. "What if I'm stuck this way for the rest of my life?" Surely, Courtney would realize that there was no way she could still date him if he was stuck as a spider? Duncan knew that once she realized that kissing him was the only way to change him back to normal then she'd do it so that they could be together. She just had to give in…

"Well, maybe that's what you get for hooking up with Heather!" Courtney coldly replied turning her back to him.

...Or not.

"_I DID NOT HOOK UP WITH HEATHER!_" Duncan yelled. The ends of his front legs clenched like fists as he glared at the back of Courtney's head. "Fine! If you won't kiss me then I'll got find someone who will…." A nasty sneer crossed his face as he snidely added, "…maybe someone like _Gwen_."

"_WHAT?!_" Courtney shrieked, twisting around to face Duncan, anger and jealousy burning in her narrowed onyx eyes.

Duncan's teal eyes narrowed in scornful slits as the sneer grew. "And then maybe I'll split my million dollars with _her_, instead."

"_**YOU…YOU CAN'T DO THAT!**_" Courtney screamed in outrage, throwing her fists up in the airs and stomping her foot down in the beginnings of giant hissy fit. _**"I DESERVE THAT MONEY MORE THAN SHE DOES!"**_

Duncan folded his front legs across his chest and gave Courtney a smug look. "Oh yeah?" He raised part of his eyebrow. "Prove it."

Courtney glared down at Duncan, teeth clenched and body shaking in silently fury; deep inside, her body and mind were fighting an inner battle to see which conflicting emotions would determine her ultimate decision. Her ambitiousness was screaming at her to do whatever it takes to get the money that she so rightly deserved. However, to get the money, she would have to kiss Duncan, who _definitely _did not deserve to be kissed at the moment! Darn, she would not submit to his level and lower herself to falling for his degrading jeers! However, five-hundred thousand dollars _was_ quite a lot...

She bit her lip indecisively for a moment more before finally giving in. "Fine!" Courtney angrily spat. "I'll kiss you!"

"Yes!" Duncan pumped his curled leg in air, letting out a victory yell.

"BUT ONLY ONE!" She snapped, holding up one index finger.

Duncan gave a deep chuckle. "Oh, we'll see how long that rule last, Princess." He teasingly gave her a broad grin that purposely showed off his rather large, venom-filled, fangs.

Courtney twisted her face away and looked as if she were holding back vomit. When she was finally able to swallow back her disgust, Courtney turned back around to face Duncan, who was patiently waiting for her to get ready. Courtney took a step towards the dresser where Duncan stood; she lifted her large eyes to the heavens and pulled her hands to her chest as if trying to draw in the strength to get through this. This was even worse than when she had to dive into that pool of green jello!

"You can do this Courtney! It's just Duncan." Courtney whispered to herself as she squeezed her eyes shut and began to lean in close enough to lock lips with the arachnid. When she was only about a few inches away, Courtney dared to peek an eye open and, to her absolute horror, Duncan had his spider lips all puckered out and…_Oh good god, was that spit or venom dripping off there??!_

With a cry of disgust, Courtney wheeled back, grimacing and shrieking, "Ew! Ew! Ew!" like a five year-old throwing a temper tantrum. "I can't do this!" She declared, stomping her foot down. "I absolutely _**won't **_kiss a spider! Never! Ever!"

"Five-hundred thousand_ dollarrrsssssss_…." Duncan purred, wagging his big, hairy tarantula bottom in air as he watched her throw a hissy fit, looking quite amused by the entire scene.

"…I hate you so very much."

Not wanting to lose her nerve once again, Courtney took a deep breath, and quickly whirled around, leaned forward with eyes closed, and planted a big kiss on Duncan's spider lips.

As soon as their lips touched, there was big flash of green light that surrounded both Duncan and Courtney; the glowing emerald light spread like a vine from Duncan to Courtney, traveling through their connected lips, and completely covered her until she was nothing more than a figure of dazzling light. Then there was giant 'poof!' and then nothing more except a few stray sparkles.

Duncan opened his four blue eyes to discover, to his deep disappointment, that he was still a tarantula, and, strangely enough, Courtney was missing. He looked around, puzzled and worried by her sudden disappearance. "Princess?" he called, crawling around the dresser surface. "You're going to have to be a better kisser than that! It didn't work!"

The mohawked teen looked over the edge of the dresser. His blue eyes grew wide with shock, amazement, and fear at what he saw.

"Oh shit…" He gulped, staring down at the pile of worn clothes on the floor- more specifically at the lump moving underneath the clothes. "…I'm so dead."

Courtney finally managed to wriggle her way out of the pile of clothes, which she somehow managed to get tangled in, and glanced upward. On top of the dresser, she saw Duncan peeking down at her from the edge.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Courtney asked, shouting up at him. She blinked in surprise when she realized that she was actually on the ground. "Wait, how did I end up down here?" She glanced around and saw that every in the room now looked quite bigger than it did only seconds before. "And how did everything get so big….ACK!" While gazing around the room, Courtney's eyes had managed to catch sight of the mirror on the floor that she had thrown at Duncan earlier. She had seen her reflection…

….And had seen a brown and purple tarantula staring right back.

Up on the dresser, feeling that his very life was in danger, Duncan began to slowly ease away from the edge.

"Now, now, Courtney, before…you…uh…jump to conclusions…let's just take a deep, _calming_ breath…and try to…"

"_**I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"**_

-------

**....That is how this scene in the movie SHOULD have ended. I know that'd be my number one reaction. Anywho, don't have much to say here, except to watch out for next week's newest update on the story! Hope you guys enjoyed it! Read and review!**


	6. What Did You Do To Me!

**First off, I would like to sincerely apologize for last week's lack of update. I was extremely busy that weekend, especially on Sunday, which is usually my writing day. On that day, I had made plans to go to the movies with my twin sister and our friend.....we went to go see the Princess and the That was my third time going to go see that movie. It was for research purposes.....yeah...just research.....**

**On a second note, HAPPY SUPER BOWL DAY! GO SAINTS! I swear, the only reason they've made it this year is because of the Princess and the Frog. Really, is it any concidence that a hit Disney movie that takes place in New Orleans comes out this year and this is the year that New Orleans Saints make to the Super Bowl for the first time ever? CONSPIRACY I TELL YOU! The Disney company has rigged the games! Lol, just kidding, it I still think the movie is good luck charm for New Orleans.**

**I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed for the story. Can't tell you how much I love reading all your reviews. Here's a some replies for a couple of them:**

**RebelliousdreameR: Thank you for the huge compliment about my story being fun to read. That really meant a lot. I've read other cross-over stories that are similar to the ones you've described (even wrote one in my early years of fanfiction writing) and understand how you feel. It's really no fun having to write a story like that- its fun trying to think of entertaining ways to make the Princess and the Frog story fit in the Total Drama universe. Lol, I'm glad you enjoy the Justin/Duncan thing. I always laugh while imagining and typing Now, as for why Courtney got changed into a spider……I'm sorry, but I can't tell you. You'll just have to wait and read on!^^**

**Princess Tikal Calafiore: That's my favorite quote from the movie as well. I just couldn't leave it out. Thank you for the scene suggestion. I already have the scene planned out. It's a tad more…er…**_**stickier**_**…than the one you suggested. However, it was still a really good idea.^^**

**CarmillaD: I noticed as well. This scene is probably one of my all-time favorites from all the Disney movies. I'm really glad you liked all the changes I made like the Chris biography (he's made to cause pain). Haha, I'm really not sure how Duncan is going to survive my story. I really should have made him turn into a cockroach…then at least he'd have a better rate of Yeah, I know that tarantula venom isn't really deadly, but Courtney never said anything otherwise when Harold and Duncan stated that so I'm guessing she believed it. **

**Now on with the story!**

* * *

Courtney let out a savage, enraged scream that would have even made Chief wet himself in fear, and leaped, using her eight long legs as springs, from the ground straight onto the dresser top. Knowing that his life was about to be abruptly cut short, Duncan turned and desperately began to scurry away as fast as all eight legs could carry him.

He didn't get very far.

"AARRHH!" Courtney unleashed an animalistic screech and flung herself at Duncan's retreating backside. Duncan gave an embarrassingly high pitched shriek of fear as the female tarantula collided into with enough force to knock both of them, tangled together in a mass of sixteen spider legs, straight off the dresser and onto the floor. As dazed as Duncan was from the fall, Courtney, probably fueled by her undying, vengeful rage, seemed utterly unaffected. With fangs clenched and eyes narrowed in a lethal glare, Courtney managed grab hold of Duncan before the pathetic delinquent could crawl away, and wrapped her front legs around his throat in a death grip.

"P-Princess…_erk_…" Duncan choked, eyeballs almost popping out of his skull as the ballistic, raging spider-girl continued to strangle the living daylights out of him. "Can't…_breath…_"

"_**WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?"**_ spat Courtney, half-crazed with rage as she shook a gagging Duncan and squeezed him tighter with every infuriated syllable.

"_What? Fangs…"-_choke-"_look…good…on…yo-__**ACK**_!"

Duncan's eight legs flailed painfully in the air as Courtney lifted him up by his throat and growled in his face. "_Come..on...."_ the black and tan tarantula desperately tried to choke out any words that could possibly calm this hell-like inferno of indescribable rage radiating from the berserking warrioress formerly known as Courtney. "_You don't really…want…to kill me…do you?"_

"Female spiders kill their mates all the time! And for good reason too!"

Despite the ominous presence of death hovering over him, Duncan's eyes immediately lit up at her words.

"Mates, uh?"

For a guy that was being strangled to death by a ticked off girlfriend, Duncan actually looked pretty pleased.

"Oh, oh, oh…" Duncan chuckled in a naughty manner and, smirking smugly, said, "I know where _**this **_is headed!" He wrapped his long front legs around Courtney's waist and actually pulled the shocked female tarantula closer. The delinquent moved his shoulders up and down in a suggestive manner as he said in lustful tones, "Never knew you liked it rough Princess, but, by all means, continue."

Duncan's perverted statements were enough to snap Courtney out of her blood-thirty cloud of rage. Looking utterly appalled, Courtney, with a gag of disgust, released her vice-strong grip from Duncan's neck and roughly pushed the perverted delinquent away.

"Eew! I can't believe you said that, you perverted, insensitive ogre!" Courtney snapped, hastily wiping her front legs clean on her chest as if Duncan had been infected by some repulsive, contagious germ.

Duncan, who had been pushed to the floor, lifted himself up with four of his legs, and gazed towards Courtney, smirk still pasted on his face and blue eyes gleaming with laughter. "You know you wanted it."

"Not on your life!" Courtney retorted. She turned away from Duncan and found herself staring back into the fallen mirror. Transfixed by the strange reflection gazing back at her, Courtney stood a few steps closer until she was able to press her two front legs against the glass surface.

"What did you do to me?" she repeated, anger melting into despair as she stared at what she had become.

Though she was a tarantula just like Duncan, the two looked quite different. Courtney was slightly smaller, and her eight legs were slightly thinner and more fragile looking. She was the same brown color as her hair, though her waist and a spot at the center of her back was the same light purple the sweater she usually wore. On each of her eight legs, besides the first two, there was a band of olive green. Around her front legs were bands of white. Courtney bared her teeth into the mirror and let out a shriek of horror, clamping her front legs over her mouth, when she saw fangs sticking out.

"I looked revolting!" Courtney wailed as she turned around, unable to look at her reflection any long. She looked down at her transformed body and gasped when a realization dawn over her. "And I'm naked!" She cried, trying to cover her exposed body with her front legs.

"Well, you're clothes are over there." Duncan pointed out, gesturing towards the pile of clothes a few feet away. "But I don't think they'll be much help." Suddenly a thought floated across Duncan's mind.

"Hey, whatever happened to my clothes?"

* * *

Justin, now wearing Duncan's clothes, stared at his Duncan-ified reflection in a body-size mirror in Heather's room. A tear of sorrow fell down his once beautiful face as the model pitifully sobbed.

"I feel so ugly!"

"STOP BLUBBERING AND LOOK FOR THAT SPIDER!"

* * *

"Who cares!" Courtney angrily interjected, glaring at Duncan while still trying in vain to cover her self. "Look at me!" She cried, voice rising to a high panicked screech. "I have eight legs! Four eyes!" she pulled on her face. "And I'm covered in hair…" Courtney moaned in self-pity and disgust, shuddering as she listed all the horrific effects of the transformation. "And I have fangs!"

Courtney couldn't take it anymore and threw her front legs over her face. "Oooohhhh, I can't believe this is happening to me!"

Duncan made a beeline towards her and placed a front leg on her shoulder. "Come on, Princess," he said, trying to comfort her. "It's not that bad. I mean, as far as hairy, hideous tarantulas go, you don't look…uh…that….repulsive?"

The mohawked spider immediately took a fearful step back when Courtney lowered her front legs away from her face and shot him a glare of pure venom.

"You…you…you…" growled Courtney as her front legs began to curl into fists. The transformed girl seemed to be fighting for self-control as she stomped her eight legs towards Duncan. She lifted a shaking front leg and poked it in Duncan's black chest.

"You better change me back this instant!" Courtney threatened. "Or so help me, I'll finish what I started two minutes ago!"

"Fine, just give me a minute to pull out my copy of Idiot's Guide to Voodoo Transformation." Duncan sarcastically replied. "Look, princess, don't you think that if I knew how to change you back, I'd have changed myself back by now?"

"Then what are we going to do?" demanded Courtney, stretching her eight legs upward until she was looming over Duncan. "There's no way I'm going to spend the rest of my life like this!"

"Neither am I." Duncan replied, making calming gestures with his front legs. "Listen we'll just go tell the rest of the campers about Heather's plot and have them make her change us back." He started to crawl towards the doorway.

Courtney found herself following him. "Do you really think that any of the campers are going to believe any of this?" She questioned.

Duncan gave her a backwards glance, eyelids half closed and smirking. "What's not to believe when the eight-legged, talking evidence is right in front of you?"

If only it were that simple.

* * *

The spider couple, after sneaking down the hallway and watching out for any sign of Heather and Justin, they managed to find a nice little hiding spot behind a tall, potted plant. For about thirty minutes, they waited in an uncomfortable (and rather icy on Courtney's side) silence until at last they heard a stampede of footsteps. Now that it was late evening, all the contestants were coming back into their rooms to relax before the dinner call.

"Who are we going to try first?" Courtney asked when the last of the hotel doors slammed shut and the hallway was silent once more.

"Geoff and DJ," was Duncan's immediate answer. No surprise since the three was a close trio on the show.

"I think we should tell Bridgette." Courtney countered.

"Why Malibu?"

"Because she's sensible and the others will believe her."

"_Not to mention she's your only friend on the show."_ Duncan silently added. "Fine, we'll go to Geoff's room first. Bridgette will probably be with him."

Bridgette and Geoff were definitely together when Duncan and Courtney found them in Geoff's room….on the bed…..making out….as always. The love-struck, hormone-crazed couple were so focused on one another that they didn't notice the tarantulas that squeezed underneath the door and crawled towards the bed.

"Oh for goodness sake, do they ever stop?" Courtney cried, eyeing their public display of affection with obvious disgust.

"Giving you any ideas, Princess?" Duncan smoothly hinted, raising and lowering his eyebrow suggestively.

"Just get his attention, already!" the brown and purple spider snapped annoyedly.

"Fine." Duncan shrugged and lifted his face up and started to yell up at the bed. "Hey Geoff! Lips off surfer girl and look down!"

Geoff, unable to hear Duncan through the sound of his and his girlfriend's lips sucking on each other, just continued making out.

Duncan gritted his teeth and, making a mental note to have a serious _**talk **_(one that involved some super glue and a lamppost) with Geoff after all this was over, climbed up the bed sheet. When he reached the top of the bed spread, he saw that Bridgette and Geoff were wrapped in each other's arms and that he was facing Geoff's back.

"DUDE!" Duncan yelled, cupping his front legs around his mouth to be louder. He felt the sheets beneath him tug as Courtney climbed up behind him.

"Bridgette! It's me, Courtney!" she yelled.

Bridgetter moaned in pleasure and deepened her kiss with Geoff.

Duncan and Courtney looked at each other, eyes narrowed in annoyance. In mutual agreement, the two tarantulas turned back to their friends and began a hollering fest, waving their legs up in the air to get their attention.

"UNLOCK LIPS THIS INSTANT!"

"YO MALIBU! PARTY FOR BRAINS! THERE'S TWO TARANTULAS TALKING TO YOU DOWN HERE!"

"HELLO?"

"DON'T MAKE ME BITE YOU!"

The couple, oblivious to everything, continued to passionately make out, lost in their own lovey-dovey world.

Courtney growled in frustration. "This is ridiculous!" Even Duncan, who usually had no problem with making out, was beginning to wear thin on patience.

"Let's just go find someone else. Like DJ, he likes animals." He suggested, raising his voice over the nauseating sound of lip sucking. "These two aren't hearing us."

Courtney curled her front legs into fist and growled. "Well let them hear this!" She threw back her head and let out a glass-shattering, angry scream.

At that second, Geoff and Bridgette rolled over, landing right on top of Duncan and Courtney.

Bridgette unlocked her lips from Geoff's and looked up with a surprised expression on her face. She looked around the room and asked, "Geoff, did you hear something?"

Geoff absent-mindedly scratched the back of his blonde head. "No, babes, did you?"

The kind surfer girl squint her green eyes in thought. "I could have sworn I heard Courtney and Duncan." She then shrugged her shoulders. "I was probably just hearing things."

There was a moment of silence. Then…

"Wanna make out some more?" Geoff asked.

Bridgette happily threw her arms around Geoff's neck and pressed her lips to his- thus a new makeup session began. The two rolled back over to their original positions and revealed a slightly squashed and extremely pissed off Duncan and Courtney.

"DJ's room?" Duncan asked.

"DJ's room." Courtney comfirmed.

* * *

Five minutes later, a screaming DJ literally ran out of his room, not even bothering to open the door, but instead running straight through it, leaving a DJ-sized gaping hole in the framework. Two tarantulas popped their heads through the large hole in the door, and watched, with shocked expressions on their faces, as DJ ran down the hallway, wildly waving his arms in the air in fear and screaming about giant, scary spiders.

"Well, that went well." Duncan dryly commented.

"Let's try the next room." Courtney suggested.

The next room, which was Beth's and Lindsay's, did not end any better. The two girls didn't even give Duncan and Courtney a chance to talk before they started screaming; their two boyfriends, Tyler and Brandy, immediately burst into the room, each wielding a weapon of choice- Tyler with a baseball bat and Brandy with a tennis racket- to try and squish the tarantulas. Good thing the two losers tripped over their own two feet which gave Duncan and Courtney a chance to escape.

Gwen and Trent weren't in their rooms; they didn't even bother going into LeShawna's since her biggest fear was spiders, and the rest of the contestants had rooms on another floor. However, there was one last door, beside's Heather's, that they hadn't tried.

"No way. I'm not doing it." Duncan said defiantly, crossing his front legs over his chest as they stood in front of the doorway in question.

"Not doing what?" Courtney asked, giving him a sideways glance as she crawled towards the towering doorway.

"Going into that room and asking THAT person for help." Duncan snapped, blue eyes glaring daggers at the door as if it were the person himself. "I may be a three inch tall tarantula, but I still have my pride!"

"Oh please," Courtney rolled her eyes at his pathetic little macho speech. "Who is in there that you have such a grudge with, that you're willing to stay put as a spider rather than ask for help?"

"Harold!"

* * *

**Yes, I added some extra stuff that isn't in the movie, but when I first came up with the idea for the story, these scenes were first ones I came up with, and I didn't want to get rid of them. Duncan and Courtney will end up the wilderness by the end of the next chapter so never fear. I can't wait to bring in the replacement for Louis. So far, no body has guessed the right answer for who will play Louis in the story. He IS a character from the show. Somebody guessed the bear, but that isn't it. Anywho, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Look out for next week's!^^ Please read and review!**


	7. The Ultimate Showdown!

**Author's Note: I'd like to send a sincere apology to all the reader of the story for the two-week late update. Long story short- life has been rather hectic in these last two weeks. Won't go into details. However, hopefully now everything will go back to normal and I can update weekly once again.**

**But enough excuses- back to the story. Once again, thanks for all the reviews! Here are some replies to some of them…**

**Kraven the Hunter: No and No. Wow, a lot of people have been guessing the Sasquat-whatyamaycallit. Don't worry, Heather will definitely doing some investigating…**

**ChipmunkFanatic: Glad to finally hear from you in a review! I'm glad your enjoying the story so far!^^ Haha, I'm happy whenever people comment on my treatment on Justin the story. He's become one of my favorite characters to write now. You saw my drawings? That's wonderful! I posted new picture of Duncan and Courtney from the last chapter. It's currently my favorite picture I've drawn…. Sorry to say that Owen isn't Louis though their personalities would work. Just like in the movie, Louis and Ray will be played by animals. Oh, I'm happy you loved the movie- the jazz music was my favorite part too.^^**

**CarmillaD: Wow, I love hearing from your reviews. Yes, the part about Duncan thinking about spider mates killing each other was sexy was like the first joke I thought of when I first thought out the story. Yes, Harold will have a big part in the story. I really grew to love the geek during the second season. He, Duncan, and Courtney are my top three favorite characters (which is strange because they all can't stand each other). As for your guesses for Louis…no. Jeez, I'm really going to disappoint people when I finally reveal who it is. Please don't flame me afterwards!xD**

-----

"There's no way I'm going to Harold for help." Duncan said, folding his arms across his chest, "As if that geek would be much help anyway!"

Courtney was about to snap at Duncan and begin lecturing him about how completely and ridiculously immature he was being at the moment and that, even though she disliked Harold almost as much as he did, neither had much of a choice for assistance at the moment, but the sound of voices stopped her from doing so.

"Now, DJ, where did you say those awful spiders were?" a familiar voice asked.

In a single instant, Duncan and Courtney turned. An icy chill went down their exoskeleton when they saw who was walking down the hallway.

"They just appeared out of nowhere in my room!" DJ whimpered, shaking in fear as he walked besides Heather. "They were horrible! They were the biggest spiders I've ever seen!"

"You poor thing." Heather comforted the large, cowardly teen in a sympathetic voice, patting his back. "Now, you said there were two spiders?" she questioned, raising a brow in confusion.

"Yeah! They almost looked like the one that Duncan had for a pet." DJ told her. "You don't think that those are Duncan's new pets, do you? Do you think they'll eat Bunny?" He fearfully asked.

"Don't worry," Heather said reassuringly in warm tones. A wicked smile spread across her face as she pulled out a fly swatter and a large jar from behind her back. "I'll catch them for you before they eat Bunny and bring them back to…_Duncan._"

"Aw, thanks Heather! You're the best for doing this for me." DJ told Heather as they walked over towards DJ's room…and towards Duncan and Courtney.

Duncan and Courtney were backed up against the door, watching DJ and Heather approach with eyes wide with fear. Courtney leaned her head sideways towards Duncan and heatedly whispered, "It's either Harold or Heather- make your pick!"

"Oh, it's my pleasure." They heard Heather reply. The raven-haired girl swung the fly swatter, smirking cruelly as it whipped through air with a loud cracking sound. "Can't have escaped spiders running around, can we?"

Duncan never answered Courtney. He was already squeezing through the panel of Harold's door.

----

Once inside Harold's room, the two fugitive tarantulas were greeted by the nauseating odor of stale chips and dirty laundry, a floor covered inch to inch with overturned comic books, and echoing sound of a certain red-head geek snoring in his bed.

"Oh my gosh," Courtney gagged, pressing a front leg to where her nose should be, "This place is disgusting!"

Duncan took a big whiff and let out a deep, breath. "Smells just like the boy's trailer."

Courtney gave a sound of contempt and cautiously crawled across the garbage littered floor, careful to avoid a stepping in any sticky left-overs of melted candy and nacho cheese. "Ugh, Harold was only voted off a couple of days ago. There's no way a person could defile a room this quickly." Courtney lifted up the paper spine of a comic book lying on the floor. "The only way to clean this pigpen is by torching the place!" The brown spider gave a backwards glance, expecting to hear a comment from Duncan, only to see that he wasn't behind her. A momentary flare of panic went through her.

"Duncan?!" She stretched up long, eight legs upward, making herself taller so that she could view the room easier. Courtney's expression of concern quickly transformed into one of irritation when she at last spotted Duncan. He was crawling up the wall, going towards the ceiling that was above Harold's bed.

"What on earth are you doing?" Courtney angrily yelled up at him as he crawled across the ceiling.

"Shhhhh!!!" Duncan made a shushing sound and gesture down at Courtney, "I've just thought of the mother of all pranks." He loudly whispered. There was an expression of devious excitement upon his spider face as he made his way to the spot on the ceiling right above where Harold laid sleeping.

"Let me get this straight," Courtney seethed, all four eyes narrowed and glaring up at the ceiling. "We've just been transformed into spiders by evil voodoo magic and right now, the only thing you're concerned about is pulling a prank on Harold!?"

Duncan managed to figure out how to pull a string of silk from his spider abdomen. "You know," he stated, "that's just your problem…" He stuck one end of the sticky silk onto the ceiling surface. "You never try to appreciate the good things in life. You let perfectly good opportunities pass you right by!" With one end still connected with his abdomen and the other end sticking to the ceiling, holding him up, Duncan slowly began to descend downward towards a sleeping Harold. "Me- I'm not like that. I never let perfectly good moments of geek humiliation like this escape me."

Courtney failed to hold back a well-deserved eye roll. "Oh yes, and all those perfectly good moments got you punched in the face and pantsed on live television."

"Oh, hahahaha…" Duncan gave a hollow laugh dripping with sarcasm. The mohawked spider was now hanging right above Harold's face. His loud snores ruffled Duncan's green mohawk with every exhale. Grinning like a Cheshire cat, Duncan began to make loud, creepy moaning noises.

Harold's snore cut off into a loud wheezing grunt; the red-headed boy, still half-asleep, slowly opened his eyes.

_"Oooohhhhh…"_ Duncan creepily moaned wiggling all eight legs.

"Ugh?" Harold sleepily wheezed. His green eyes shot open in surprise at the sight of the large, black and tan tarantula hovering over his face.

_"Haaaarroooooolllldddddd...." _The tarantula cried in a sinister voice._ "I am the ghost of Scrrrruuuuuffffyyyy….coming to haaaaaaaaaaunnntttt youuuuuuuuuuuu!!!"_

"You have _got _to be kidding me." Courtney murmured slapping a front leg over her face out of pure annoyance for Duncan's immature antics.

"AAAGGGHHHHHHH!!!" Harold screamed and promptly, to Duncan's absolute delight, fell right out of bed. Tangling in his bed sheets, the nerd continued yell in fright. "Spare me oh vengeful arachnid! It was an accident! I swear!"

"Hahahahohohoho...that was too good! Hahaha!" Duncan, still hanging from the silk string, was holding his belly, shaking with laughter.

"Are you happy now, you immature ogre?" Courtney crossly asked, front legs folded over her chest.

"HE ALMOST WET HIS PANTS! HAHAHA!"

Harold paused from his terrified screaming and wrestling with his bed sheets as he slowly started to recognize the two voices he was hearing. The redhead pulled the sheets away from his face. "Duncan? Courtney?"

Courtney crawled towards the bewildered nerd and placed a front leg on top of Harold's hand to get his attention. "Right here."

Harold looked down and gave a loud gasp, jerking his entire body in surprise. "Courtney!?" He scooped the brown and purple tarantula into the palm of his hand and held her close to his face, peering at her through his glasses. "Is that really you? Where's Duncan?"

Duncan leaped onto Harold's shoulder. "Like the wakeup call, nerd?"

Harold let out another cry of surprise and fright and stumbled backwards; he slipped on the tangled bed sheets and landed rather painfully on his butt. Harold gave his head a quick shake as if to make sure he wasn't seeing things. One quick look down at the female spider in his hand and the mohawked tarantula now perched on the floor by his outstretched legs told Harold that this was no hallucination.

"What happened to you guys?" Harold asked. "You two aren't were-tarantulas are you?"

"What? No!" snapped Courtney. "We're not were-tarantulas, Harold!" However, now that she thought about it, she wondered whether the truth was any less ridiculous sounding.

"Really?" He actually sounded disappointed as he lowered Courtney to the ground. She crawled off his palm to stand next to Duncan. "Then what happened?"

"Heather is what happened." Duncan said with an angry scowl on his face, eyebrow furrowed. "She and Justin teamed up and pulled some weird voodoo crap on me and changed me into a frinkin' spider to get my million!"

"Tarantula." corrected Harold.

"Whatever." retorted Duncan.

"Then mister fairy tale here," Courtney continued, shooting Duncan a dirty look, "kissed me and changes me into one as well!"

"Oh, oh, oh, hold up!" Harold held up the palms of his hands for silence, glancing between the two tarantulas. He lifted up a questioning index finger. "Let me get this straight my spidery ex-cast mates- the vixen-like, bald-headed Heather…

"Full-headed." Duncan mumbled under his breath, keenly remembering the beautiful, yet strangely animated, set of black hair that Heather now adorned.

"...and Justin were the ones responsible for turning you into a tarantula, using some really cool and totally mystical voodoo magic?" Harold inquired to Duncan. "And then you kissed Courtney, and she got turned into one as well, am I correct?"

Duncan blinked. "Uhh…yeah. That pretty much sums it up."

Harold stared down at them and grew strangely silent. For a many seconds, all the tall, lanky redhead did was stare at the two transformed spiders before him as if slowly taking in all the bizarre information he had just received.

Then he giggled.

The tiny giggle turned into a chuckle before growing into a full rib-splitting roar of laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!" Harold's skinny body shook as he continued to loudly unleash hysterical laughter. He was laughing so hard that he fell to the ground.

Duncan and Courtney glared respectively at guffawing nerd respectively, annoyed that he was taking in such amusement at their misfortune.

"It isn't funny!" the Courtney crossly snapped.

"I'M ALMOST WETTING MY PANTS! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Okay, laugh it up already!" Duncan ordered, beginning to get fed up with the nerd's jubilant mood. He crossed his front legs over his black chest, which strangely still had a little tan skull-shaped circle in the dead center of it, and said, "Once you're done, you can help us change back!"

Harold's laughter abruptly came to a halt. Being the speedy one, he was on his feet in an instant; to both Courtney and Duncan's surprise, there was an almost angry look on his freckled face.

"Oh yeah?" Behind his glasses, his green eyes were narrowed hostilely. "Why should I help you?" he demanded, speaking directly to Duncan. "You can't boss me around anymore. In case you haven't noticed, my tiny adversary, I'm bigger and stronger than you now." There was a smug, almost victorious, smirk on Harold's face as he said this.

It set Duncan's blood boiling. _Oh, oh, that nerd was going down!_ His front legs were curled into tiny fists and the hair covering his tarantula body was bristling with indignation and fury at Harold's jabbing insult. Nobody, especially not this four-eyed loser, said that they were bigger and tougher than him!...Except Chief.

"Is that so?" Duncan spat, all four eyes narrowed into dangerous, icy blue slits. If he still had sleeves on, then he'd be rolling them up about now. "WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT!" With a spartan-like war cry, Duncan launched his spider self at Harold's face.

Harold screamed and showed the same reaction as he did when Scruffy had done same thing- wildly thrashing his arms around and crying, "Get it off! Get it off!"

"HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT NERDLING?! NOT SO TOUGH NOW, HUH?" Duncan yelled, clinging to Harold's face. "STILL THINK I'M TINY?!"

Harold managed to grab hold of Duncan and pulled the vicious tarantula off his face, flinging him onto the floor. Duncan landed on all eight legs and slid across the room. Fanged teeth clenched, the mohawked tarantula lifted his upper body up and stood, glaring at Harold on the other sides of the room. Harold, likewise, did the same, facing the enemy spider in an almost western-style stand off.

"So the time has finally come, my mohawked nemesis." Harold wheezed, glaring at across the room at the tiny spider. "It's time to finish what we started in season one!"

Duncan popped the knuckles of his front legs. "Should have never left your underwear on the floor, Doris!"

"You may now be like the fourth most dangerous spider in the world," Harold proclaimed, getting into a kung-fu stance, "but not even you will be able to beat my mad skills!"

"Okay, really guys!" Courtney cried from the sidelines, glaring at both boys and their stupid immaturity. "Is all this really necessary? Don't you see we have bigger issues to deal with at the moment?"

"Nothing is bigger than honor, Lady Tarantula!"

"Sorry, babes, but the loser has had it coming since day one!"

"Can't we just talk this over like civilized human-beings?!"

"For honor!" Harold shouted, running towards Duncan, yelling out a battle cry and swinging a pair of his favorite nun-chucks.

"For being an absolute loser!" Duncan growled, crawling as fast as he could towards a charging nun-chuck wielding Harold.

"….YOU'RE BOTH IDIOTS!"

The moment the two were about to collide, Duncan leaped upon Harold's head once again, causing the lanky teen to loose grip of his nun-chucks; they went flying into the air, still spinning around wildly. When then started to come down again, Duncan was on top of Harold's head, violently yanking on the nerd red hair while Harold had hold of four of Duncan's legs and was pulling on them, painfully stretching Duncan's body out.

_**CRACK! **_One end of the non-chucks slammed into Duncan…

_**KA-POW! **_The other end hit Harold right in the face.

With a moan of pain, both the boy and spider fell into a heap on the ground, completely knocked out. Meanwhile, Courtney, still on the sidelines, had a front leg pressed to her forehead and was shaking her head in frustration at the two boys' complete lack of comprehension.

---

About five minutes later, Harold and Duncan, both fully awake, were sitting on floor, sharing an icepack. Duncan, who was still perched on top of Harold's head, eight legs hanging limply from the sides, was clutching the top portion of the ice pack to his bruised spider body while Harold had the bottom half pressed against his own swollen face.

"You know," Courtney said, taking inner pleasure in seeing the two brood in their own self-pity and humiliation. "This is the reason why in most insect groups, it's the females that are dominant."

The two males glared at her, choosing to sulk in cold silence.

Courtney gave an irritable sigh. "Look, let's make get all this out in the open…none of us really like each other."

"Agreed." The two boys murmured in monotone.

"But extreme situations call for extreme solutions." Courtney continued. "I suggest that we, mostly you two, put aside your differences so we can solve this problem."

"I have no problem!" Harold retorted, glaring. "I'm not the one that's a grown eight legs…though that would be really cool." He added wistfully. His voice grew hard again when he said, "there's no way I'm teaming up with this guy." Harold pointed at the spider on his head.

"Same here, _Doris_." Duncan bitterly spat.

"Oh, will you two grow up and stop this immature feud!" Courtney snapped, glaring at the two. "Duncan, if I was able to forgive Harold for voting me off…."

"You beat me up with a lamppost!" Harold protested.

"I didn't say I didn't punish you first!" The brunette spider growled, but continued to speak in a calmer voice. "Then you should be able to forgive Harold just as Harold should be able to forgive you. In the kung-fu challenge, you two were actually getting along until Owen went and ruined it."

Harold and Duncan lowered their gazes, still unconvinced.

"Harold," Courtney curtly reminded, "do you really want Heather and Justin to unfairly steal the million dollars?"

Harold raised his head, staring at Courtney and then rolled his eyes up towards Duncan in a thoughtful manner, pondering Courtney's words. Having Harold's gaze on him, Duncan looking down and gave a begrudged shrug- the only sign that showed that he was willing to cooperate with the nerd. Harold gave the spiders a good-natured smile.

"Well, I guess we can call a truce until you two are back to normal."

"Really?" Courtney exclaimed, blinking her large, dark eyes.

"Going up against Heather and Justin the way you are now would be an unfair fight, especially with their cool voodoo magic." Harold explained. "You two are going to need my mad skills if we're going to change you back."

"So…you're really going to help us?" Duncan asked, slightly amazed that Harold was going to be on their side.

"Even better," Harold said, gently pulling Duncan from his head and placing him besides Courtney on the bed before heading to the door. "I'll gather some other campers willing to help out!"

----

**Originally this was going to end with Duncan and Courtney getting into the wild, but Harold and Duncan's feud had become way too long (though I loved every second of it) and I've kept you guys waiting long enough for the new chapter. Actually, I think I prefer it this way because then in the next chapter I can make the wilderness scene longer.**

**Now, I know lots of readers are probably going to complain about Courtney in this chapter. In most fanfics I read, the writer always makes Courtney carry a large hatred towards Harold. However, what people fail to notice is that since season two of Total Drama, Courtney hasn't shown ANY hostility at all towards Harold (only to Duncan, which is funnier). Yes, she beat him up with a lamp pole at Playa de Loser, but you know what? I'd be pretty pissed off too if some asshole (sorry, I do love Harold, but he was an ass in that episode) cheated me out of a 100,000 dollars. Harold deserved some punishment and Courtney gave it to him. But she didn't hold a grudge once he was justly punished. Plus, in season two, it's clear that Courtney is willing to negotiate with Harold just like Duncan will reluctantly work together with Harold when times call for it. Being transformed into a spider is one of those times. To tell the absolute truth, Duncan, Courtney, and Harold are my favorite characters in the entire series. I love the trio, especially when they interact with one another. **

**Anywho, that's my two cents. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and if you're all still trying to figure out who's Louis, you're going to have to think outside box. Same goes for Ray. Read and review!^^**


	8. Floating Away

**Author's Note: YES! I UPDATED ON TIME THIS WEEK! WOOT! Lol, thank you all for the wonderful reviews you've left! You guys are the best.^^ I'm sorry to say that none of your guesses for Ray and Louis are correct. *ducks as bricks are thrown* Yeah, yeah, I know a bunch of people are gonna hate me when I reveal who's playing Louis' role in the next chapter. However, I made this character be Louis after I figured who was going be Ray. I needed someone that I could connect with the stars and Evangline. The choice is going to surprise you all, but hopefully you guys won't hate me after I explain the reasonings for my decision. **

**Another topic I wanted to discuss with the readers of my story is the issues with the movie songs. A couple of readers have asked about putting the songs from Princess and the Frog in the story as well. The only song that I know FOR SURE is going to be in the story is the "Ma Belle Evangline" (come on, Duncan and Courtney has to dance to something). I'm **_**considering **_**putting in the song "Dig a Little Deeper" in as well. In case you haven't guessed, Chief will be playing Mama Odie's role in the story and I'm trying decide whether or not he would be willing to burst into song. He's done some crazy stuff in the episodes, but I'm still not really sure. I want you guys opinion on whether or not I should put in the song "When we're Human". However, if I put that song in, I'll probably have to change A LOT of the lyrics to make it work. Just asking your opinions.**

**On a side note, one reviewer asked whether or not Duncan and Courtney will get married at the end like the movie. The answer is no, but I will try to make the end just as spectular as the wedding scene from the movie.^^**

* * *

The moment Harold returned with backup, Duncan and Courtney knew that they were completely screwed.

"Ta-da!" announced Harold, grinning with great enthusiasm as he revealed the contestants that he managed to pull together to help change them back.

"You can't be serious." Duncan complained, glaring at Harold from the top of the nerd's computer desk. Suddenly a wild screech filled the air, and a green and red blur leaped from the doorway, somersaulted across the room, and gracefully landed on two feet next to the desk. Giggling like a maniac, the psycho-path known as Izzy grabbed hold of Duncan and held him at arms-length away from her grinning face.

"Like wow! Harold was right! You are a creepy-crawly now, aren't ya? Hahah!" Izzy cackled in delight and pinched Duncan's cheeks in fascination, stretching out his spider face to great proportions. "Hohoho, Izzy thinks Dunky makes a cute spider! Hehe!"

"Et…go…min'…mace…psycho." Duncan slowly threatened, glaring at the insane red-head. The mohawked tarantula rubbed his stinging cheeks once Izzy released him.

Courtney wasn't faring much better with the second person Harold found.

"Ow, stop poking me, Ezekiel!" snapped Courtney, wincing as the homed-school teen poked her spider body repeatedly.

"I can't believe it, eh!" Ezekiel proclaimed his deep accent thick with bafflement as he continued finger poking. "Yoo two re'ly are spiders, eh!"

"Have you tried to bite someone yet?" Izzy excitedly asked.

"No! Of course not!" Courtney looked appalled by the very idea.

"Pfft! You're no fun!"

"Is this all the help you can find?" Duncan asked Harold, leaning on a desk lamp. The delinquent was grateful that the nerdling was helping him, but, seriously, _Izzy and Ezekiel_? Wild girl was insane and Homeschool was pretty useless in any situation that didn't involve nose-picking or farm work. There were about twenty-two teens in this freaking hotel! Surely, Harold could have gathered more than this pathetic duo!

"They're the only two that believed me." Harold admitted, "Everyone else either didn't believe me or were too busy eating dinner down in the cafeteria.

"Not even our best friends?" inquired Courtney.

Harold grew silent and thought back to five minutes in the past….

_**Flashback...**_

"…And that's what happened!" Harold finished explaining what had happened to Duncan and Courtney- Duncan's encounter with Heather and Justin, the tarantula transformation, the kiss…everything. "So will you guys help us?"

Geoff and Bridgette continued to passionately make out, completely ignoring Harold.

"Uhhh…guys?"

The couple moaned in pleasure, pressing against the wall and deepening their kiss, still totally oblivious.

"….Should I come back later?"

_**End of Flashback….**_

"Well," Harold finally said, looking down at the two tarantulas, completely unwilling to repeat what had happened in his flashback. "It is kind of a hard story to believe."

"I n'ver seen this hap'en befoore eh." Ezekiel said, still staring at the two transformed tarantulas, grey eyes round with amazement and disbelief.

Izzy chortled and playfully flipped her hand at Ezekiel's statement. "Jeez, Zekey, you really need to get off the farm more often! People turn into animals all the time!"

"…….They do?" Echoed Duncan, Courtney, and Harold in stunned voices, flitting their eyes at one another in disbelief.

"Well duh!" Izzy exclaimed, grinning and shooting the crew a weird face. "When my Uncle Naveen went down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, he like lost a bet with a creepy voodoo guy and got changed into a frog! Then he met my Aunt Tiana and tried to get her to kiss him, but she was a chief and thought that my Uncle Naveen was just part of the order of supplies for her restaurant and then totally like chopped off his legs for someone's order! Hahaha, funny huh?" giggled Izzy. "He was all like 'Ow! My legs!' and she was like 'Eek, you can talk!' She kissed him to make it better and he changed back and then they got married…IN A SWAMP! Is that cool or what?"

"...Or what." Courtney drily replied. The boys were too busy trembling and staring at Izzy in horror, completely traumatized by her story. All the color had drained from Duncan's face and he now had all eight legs tucked safely beneath him.

"So CIT," the green adorn, redheaded crazy teen inquired leaning close to the brown and purple tarantula. "Harold told us how Heather and Justin turned Juvie into a spider, but didn't mention how you got changed into one as well."

"I….well…" Courtney was embarrassed to say, especially with both Izzy and Ezekiel now staring keenly at her. Even worse, Duncan was smirking in her direction as if looking forward to her response. Only Harold seemed sympathetic. "I kissed him."

Izzy burst out in loud laughter. "Hahahahoho! And people say I'm crazy! Who in their right mind would ever kiss a tarantula? Hahaha!" said Izzy, wiping a mirthful tear from her eye.

"Ew." was all Ezekiel said.

Courtney's fiery temper immediately spiked a couple of degrees. "It wasn't as if I wanted to do it!" she spat, pointing a front leg at Duncan. "He came up with this idiotic and completely preposterous idea and made me do it!"

"It's wasn't idiotic!" argued Duncan, snapping out of his traumatized stupor. He rose a little higher on his long legs, shooting Courtney a scathing look. "It worked in the story!"

"A fairy tale!"

"You mean the 'Frog Prince'?" asked Harold.

"_**YES!"**_

"Well, then that sounds sensible." the dork said, grinning. "That particular Grimm Brothers fable does indeed include some parallel to that of the events occurring at this very moment."

"_See_? Harold agrees with me!" Duncan retorted, knocking knuckles with his former teammate.

"Stop taking his side!" Courtney snapped, beginning to deeply regret ever helping the two bitter enemies get along in the first place. "It's his fault that we're even in this predicament in the first place! If he hadn't been seduced by that witch, Heather, then-"

"Hold up! I have never been seduced by Heather!" Duncan heatedly argued, crawling towards Courtney until they were practically yelling in each other's faces. "First off, she tricked me into coming to her room where she and that idiot, Justin practically mugged me with voodoo magic and changed me into this! Secondly, I never made you do _anything_!"

"Now, now my spider friends," Harold interfered, holding his hands up for peace, "let us put aside this meaningless fighting so that we can peacefully think of a solution for this problem together."

The tarantula couple ignored him.

"You two-faced liar! You took away my half of the million!"

"Ooooh, this is getting good!" Izzy commented. Somehow, she had pulled out a large bowl of popcorn that she and Ezekiel were currently sharing. The duo and Harold were watching the spider couple continue there vicious argument, moving their heads respectively from Duncan and Courtney as if watching a birdie being tossed back and forth in a tennis match.

"_Excuse me? __**Your **_half of the million? That money belongs only to me and only I choose who gets to have some of it! I might as well give half of it to dork-boy here! At least he's agreeing with me!"

"YES!" Harold pumped his fist in the air.

"…Not really." Duncan quietly admitted.

"Aawwww…" Harold dejectedly whined.

"Well, I rightly deserved some of money!" Courtney protested, dark eyes flaring with ceaseless rage. "I would have beat Beth and won it if you hadn't betrayed me and voted me off in the last round!"

"I won that money fair and square!" Duncan growled, beginning to get fed up with her acting like a whiny little spoiled brat. "I went through two seasons of Chris' crap, almost got killed multiple times, went through five months of eating the garbage that Chief calls food, and then went through all of season two a _second time_!" The mohawked tarantula leaned in close so that his teal eyes burned into Courtney's like blue embers. "Don't you dare tell me that I don't deserve that money! Plus all the contestants voted and they chose me! Even you voted for me to win!" What did the prissy stuck up bitch of a princess have to say about that?

Courtney's dark, almost black eyes, narrowed into venomous slits as she spoke in a dangerously low voice, head bent forward. "Who ever said I voted for you?"

There as a loud gasp from Harold's end; Ezekiel's jaw dropped in stunned surprise and Izzy let out loud 'oooohhh' and shouted, _"BURN!"_

Duncan took a step back with four of his legs as if her words had been a physical blow, a fist to the face. His blue eyes were round and staring, shimmering with a whirlpool of emotions- anger….pain….shock…betrayal. His body moved slowly as a wave of coldness washed over him at Courtney's words, numbing and freezing over his heart. He forgot about the other people in the room, about being transformed into a spider, about the million of dollars. The only thing Duncan was fully aware about was Courtney's words and the chilling message that pierced through his brain.

_Heather had been right all along..._

"Duncan?" Harold's quiet voice, laced with soft sympathy, brought Duncan back from the dark void that had threatened to consume him. The black and tan tarantula gave his head a quick shake, trying to gather up his senses. He didn't look at Harold or the other two- he didn't want see the looks on their faces, to see the pity reflected their eyes.

"But Chris…" he tried to argue, tried to regain the confidence that he once had about his and Courtney's feelings towards one again.

"Chris only assumed I voted for you!" Courtney snapped, totally oblivious to the turmoil her words were causing Duncan. "I could have voted for Beth for all you know!"

"Well did you?" Duncan demanded, eyebrow furrowed and fangs bared.

Courtney folded her front legs across her chest, chin tilted up in a snobbish fashion. "That's for me to know."

The icy numbness that had consumed Duncan's body now melted into a boiling rage. So she wanted to play it that way, uh? If Courtney wanted to make him crash and burn then he'd add his own fireworks to the mix.

"Well, _Princess_," he spat out the title like a vile insult, "since it seems like the truth is finally coming out, I have some news for you! Remember that thirty-two page letter you wrote during the animal-buddy challenge?"

"The one that you carelessly lost in the woods?" Courtney exclaimed, legs still crossed and glaring.

Duncan laughed, though it didn't reach his eyes which had darkened with anger. "Yep that's the one. Well, you know, _sweetheart_? I didn't lose it." He puffed out his chest and practically yelled in her face. "_**I ATE IT!"**_

That broke the last straw. Courtney unleashed an enraged screech and launched herself at Duncan, who gladly and willingly did the same. Just like the ball-pit challenge, the two were viciously rolling around the desk surface, attacking one another, both fueled by a quenchable rage that the other had fed through endless bickering.

"They're killing each other!" Ezekiel cried, tugging down on his hat as he and Harold looked on in horror at the furious fight going on.

Surprisingly, Izzy was quite calm and smiling as she shook her head at the home schooled boy's comment.

"Zekey, Zekey, Zekey…" she tutted like a teacher lecturing a little kindergartener, even patting him on top of the head. "Don't be silly. Duncan and Courtney are _spiders _now. As humans they'd be killing each other, but as spiders, they're just showing how much they love each other!"

"_**SHE'S BREAKING MY LEG OFF!"**_

"Whoah-ho, Courtney!" Izzy chuckled, winking at the feuding spiders. "Save some for you two's honeymoon!"

"I don't think that's how it works, Izzy." Harold told her.

They stopped speaking and turned their attention back to the fight. Duncan was on one end of the desk while Courtney on the other. Courtney gave a savage cat-like growl and jump-tackled into Duncan, knocking to the both of them right into the light-head of the desk lamp. The two spiders hit the light-head with enough force to cause it to spin around rapidly….carrying them along with it.

"Wwwhhhhhhhhhhoooooooaaaaa!" the tarantula couple screamed, as the lamp swung them around and around at a rapid speed.

"Hold on! I'll save you!" Harold heroically leaped forward and grabbed hold of the swinging lamp. The lamp stopped, but the spiders didn't.

"AAAAGGGGHHHHH!" Duncan and Courtney screamed, hugging each other in fear as they were sent flying across the room…

_**CRASH!**_

…and straight out window of Harold's room, on the second floor of the hotel.

* * *

Meanwhile, right outside and exactly fifteen feet below Harold's window, another Total Drama couple was interacting with one another in a less violent (or passionate according to Izzy) manner.

"Oh, Brady! You got me gifts!" Beth happily squealed, clamping her hands together in delight at the sight of her handsome boyfriend carrying a bundle of flowers in one hand and a bunch of balloons in the other. "You shouldn't have!"

"I shouldn't have, Bella?" he dimwitted, gorgeous teen asked, blinking in confusion. Strange, he had thought she wanted gifts.

"No, no! You should have! And it's Beth." Beth quickly corrected him, forgetting how Lindsay-like her boyfriend was. The pony-tailed brunette took the flowers and pressed them to her face, giving them a big whiff. She then frowned when looked at the balloons. "Brady…"

"Yes, baby?" The handsome hunk said, flashing his girlfriend a dazzling smile as he somehow sparkled in the lamplight.

"Why do all the balloons look like Chris' face?"

Indeed, every balloon had a likeness of Chris's annoying, smiling face on them.

"Those were all they sold at the hotel gift shop." He explained. Suddenly, something caught his attention. "Do you hear something?"

"Something like what?" Beth asked.

"Like little screaming voices gradually getting closer and closer and…"

"_**AAAARRGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"**_

Two screaming tarantulas fell from the sky and landed right on Beth's face. The glasses-wearing girl let out a high-pitched shriek of fear.

"GET THEM OFF! GET THEM OFF!" She screamed, frantically waving her arms around.

Duncan was the first to recover from the fall; he looked up and his blue eyes widened when he as Brady coming towards them with, one large hand rose to swat them off. The tarantula flit his four eyes back and forth, looking for a way to escape. Then he spotted the balloons.

"Duncan…!" Courtney too saw Brady coming, dark eyes growing large with fright.

Duncan grabbed hold of one of her front legs and shouted, "Jump!" Pulling a surprised Courtney along with him, Duncan leaped from Beth's face and caught hold to some of the balloon strings. Brady let go of the strings in shock, releasing the balloons into the air with Duncan and Courtney along with them.

Higher and higher, the balloons floated, carrying their spider passengers along with them towards the darkening evening skies. Brady and Beth became smaller and smaller as did the entire hotel the higher the couple went.

"DUNCAN! COURTNEY!"

Duncan and Courtney looked down and managed to see Harold's head sticking out the window, staring up at them and calling out with Izzy and Ezekiel right behind him.

"HAAAARRRRROOOOOLLLLDDDDD!" Duncan hollered, cupping two of his legs against his mouth.

"HELP US!" Courtney screamed down at him.

"DON'T WORRY!" They couple heard Harold yell back, though his voice was getting fainter and fainter the farther away they flew. "WE'LL Come…and…_find…yoooouuu…_" They were too far away to hear or see him now. The hotel was becoming a distant outline of shining lights as the two floated along with their Chris balloons away from the city and towards the wilderness.

"Great Duncan, just great!" Courtney cried, tightening her grip on the balloon strings as she glared up at Duncan. "I hope you're happy! Not only are we stuck as tarantulas, but now we're floating on Chris-shaped balloons a hundred feet in the air and away from civilization!"

Duncan scoffed and rolled his eyes at her whining. "Hey, I got us out from being squashed, didn't I? Just chill, will ya, drama queen? Everything's going to be fine. Besides, it could be worse."

"_Worse_?" Courtney hissed softly before exploding, _**"HOW CAN OUR SITUATION GET ANY WORSE? **_

At that moment, the clouds opened up and unleashed a downpour of rain.

Despite the shower of rain, Duncan couldn't help but flash Courtney a cocky smirk.

"Wow, Déjà vu, huh Princess?"

Courtney added her irritated scream to the distant roar of thunder, echoing across the dark night.

* * *

"Did the forecast say anything about it raining tonight?" Gwen asked, staring out the window of the hotel lobby, watching the pitter-patter of raindrops splashing against the window.

Almost all the campers and cast maters were gathered in the hotel lobby, lounging on the couches or nestled on the floor by the fireplace, each doing their own thing to relax and to digest the dinner that they had just consumed.

"Nobody listens to the news anymore." Noah dryly commented, not looking up as he turned a page in the thick book he was reading on a big, red lounge chair. "We use Yahoo. Besides, the weatherman is always incompetent."

"I like the rainy weather." Trent commented from his corner of the couch. He was stringing up his trusty guitar and smiling. "The sound of raindrops always gives me the best inspiration for song writing."

Still standing by the window, Gwen heard the comment and secretly smiled, not turning around for the others to see. However, LeShawna saw her girl's reflection in the glass and quickly slid over to Trent.

"So, have you written any particular songs lately?" LeShawna slyly asked, tilting her head towards the musician.

"Yeah, actually I've written nine new songs!" Trent said, grinning.

Back at the window, the smile quickly left Gwen's face.

LeShawna noticed and furrowed her eyebrows, frowning. She turned back to Trent and asked with raised brows. "Any songs about a particular _**girl**_?" The large girl hinted, eyes slightly narrowing as she emphasized on the 'girl' part.

Trent's grin slowly slid off; the green-eyed boy bashfully looked down, unwilling to look Gwen's best friend in the eye. "Well, I…."

Suddenly the elevator door 'dinged', slid open, and unleashed a panicking Harold.

"GAHHH! EMERGENCY! RED ALERT! RED ALERT! CALL 911!" The dork tripped and landed on his face in the middle of the lobby.

Noah slammed his book shut, glaring and forehead wrinkled in annoyance. "Well, there goes my evening."

LeShawna ran up to her scrawny crush and helped him up. "What's wrong sugar?"

"This isn't about the stupid spider story you made up, is it?" Eva growled, pointing a finger at the red-headed dork.

"I did not make it up!" Harold countered, standing in the middle of the lobby, addressing everyone. "Duncan and Courtney really got changed into tarantulas and now they're in trouble!"

"Dude, no offense, but that story doesn't make sense." Cody pointed. "It's physically impossible for a human being to become a spider."

"Not with voodoo magic it isn't! Gosh!"

"Voodoo magic, you say?" LeShawna asked as she and Gwen gave each other uneasy glances. Something didn't seem right.

"We live in Canada. There's no voodoo magic here." Trent said.

"If you don't believe me, ask Izzy and Ezekiel!" Harold snapped, glaring. "They're on the roof right now trying to look out for Duncan and Courtney who floated away on some Chris-shaped balloons."

_**On the roof…**_

"Eh, Izzy, I doun't thi'k this very safe." Ezekiel whimpered.

Izzy had managed to get her self and the prairie boy to the roof the five-star hotel; they were in the midst of climbing up the giant radio antenna in an attempt to use the extreme height to locate where Duncan and Courtney had floated off to….even though it was storming and the metal was wet and slippery and there were bolts of lightning flashing across the sky every five seconds.

Of course, the crazy redhead was unfazed by all the obvious deadly hazards.

"Hehe, I'm not Izzy!" Izzy insanely cackled. "Call me Mama Juju! Voodoo queen of all Canada! We must find our creepy-crawly friends so that I can use my awesome magic skills to change them back!"

"Yoo don't have magic skill, eh!"

"Neither does Heather, but that didn't stop her! Hahaha!"

"Du yoo thi'k we can look foor Dun'kin and Coo'rty on the groond?" the home-schooled teen dared to ask.

"Where's the fun in that?" Izzy chuckled. "Relax, Zekey, we're just going to keep a look out for Duncan and Courtney so that we can go get them in the morning." The insane teen screamed and shook her fist at the sky.

"HEAR THAT GUYS? IF YOU'RE STILL ALIVE, GIVE US A SIGN!"

A bolt of lightning instantly struck the antenna, electrocuting the two teens, puffing up their hair and charring them black.

"Hahaha!" Izzy laughed, grinning like a mad-woman even though her body was smoking and static crackling on her skin. "See, Zekey? Duncan and Courtney are alright!"

Ezekiel's body jerked with electricity as he let out a single "EH!"

_**Back inside…**_

It was clear by the looks on everyone's faces that they still didn't believe Harold's story.

"Look," Harold said staring at each teen. "I'm telling the truth! Heather is trying to steal Duncan's million by transforming him and Courtney into tarantulas! We have to find them and change them back before she and Justin complete their diabolical plan!"

"Did someone say my name?" Everybody turned their heads to stare as Heather strolled into the lobby.

"Good you're here. Could you please just reveal you're so-called diabolical plan to make Harold shut up?" Noah sarcastically asked. He raised an eyebrow at her full head of hair and added, "Nice wig."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Heather said, crossing her arms. Her grey eyes widened in surprise when Harold sprang towards her and pointed an accusing finger at her face.

"Enough with your lies, you sly, beautiful vixen!" The nerd cried, "It's time to tell your voodoo friends to change Duncan and Courtney back!"

"Change me back to what, nerd?" a deep, menacing voice asked.

Harold turned from Heather and stared as the newcomer came out of the elevator. His jaw drooped and behind his glasses, his green eyes grew wide with horror at what he saw. A terrifying bolt of lightning lit up lobby and thunder pounded as the figure stepped out of the shadows to reveal him self.

It was Duncan.

* * *

**Again, I'd really appreciate your opinions about putting the songs in the story! Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Please read and review!^^**


	9. Into the Wilderness!

**Author's Notes: God, this is probably the longest chaper I've ever written. Thank you all for your reviews and your opinions. I would say more, but my hands hurt from all the typing. I really, REALLY hope that you guys enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Harold stared and stared, the green eyes behind his glasses wide with disbelief. He watched as 'Duncan' walked forwards towards the gathered group with an arrogant smirk on his delinquent face. A cold chill went through Harold's body the moment he saw the mohawked teen and Heather share a quick glance at one another. It only lasted a mere second, but it was enough for Harold to realize that something was terribly wrong.

"How's it going, dude!" Geoff beamed and shared a high-five with Duncan.

"Nice to see that you're not a tarantula." Noah sarcastically commented, shooting Harold a sharp glare. Everyone in the lobby had now turned to stare at Harold, who was still standing in the middle of the room, transfixed by the sight of Duncan, completely normal and human.

"H-How?" Harold stammered out, a deep red blush beginning to burn in his freckled cheeks. He was fully aware of all the embarrassing stares being fixed his way. "How did you change back from a tarantula?"

"What the heck are you talking about, nerd?" Duncan rudely replied. Harold noticed his voice sounded slightly different, yet very familiar at the same time. "Hit your head with the nun-chucks too many times, dorko?"

A tittering of chuckles followed the delinquent's comment, causing Harold's embarrassment grow. The lanky, red-headed teen was trying his best to make sense at what was going on.

"This is impossible!" blurted Harold, sounding both angry and upset.

"No," Cody pointed out, "what you were saying was impossible."

"What I was saying was the truth! _GOSH!" _Harold knew that he was fighting a losing battle. Now that this imposter Duncan was here, there was no way the others would believe his outlandish story even if it was the absolute truth. Not even Gwen and LeShawna seemed to believe him anymore!

However, there were some truths that neither Heather nor this imposter could hide. He fixed a glare at 'Duncan.'

"Fine…_Duncan_, if that is your real name," Harold spat, narrowing his eyes to suspicious green slits. "Where's Courtney at, huh? And where's Jus…" he instantly clamped his mouth shut. An ominous feeling fell over Harold as he realized why Duncan's voice sounded so familiar yet so very different.

It was not Duncan's voice…

It was Justin's!

"Courtney's gone." Duncan, who Harold knew was really Justin, said impassively.

"Gone?" It was Bridgette who had spoken. She stared at 'Duncan' with concerned green eyes. "Where is she?"

_So now you care! _Harold sarcastically remarked inside his mind, shooting the blonde surfer girl and her boyfriend a withering glare. Figures that even as 'Duncan' Justin managed to get people's undivided attention.

"Emergency leave." Heather cut in, standing besides Duncan. "Her…aunt got sick so Chris let Courtney leave for visit with her."

Though Bridgette still looked unconvinced, Noah stood up from the lounge chair and drily said, "Well, that works for me. I'd like to continue this fascinating little conversation about magic and spiders, but I don't want to lose any more brain cells." He made towards the elevator. "Night."

Cody stood up as well. "I'm going to bed too." In the seconds that followed, everyone began to get up and head to the elevators, ready to retire back to their rooms for bed. Harold swung his head, helplessly watching as his fellow friends and cast-mates passed him, not even giving him a backwards glance.

"Don't tell me you believe them!" Harold cried, desperately trying to make them see the truth. "They're lying! That's not really Duncan! Courtney's not really at her Aunt's! They're stuck as tarantulas and hopelessly lost! They need help!"

Trent was the last one in the elevator. He turned around to face Howard and said just as the elevator doors were sliding close, "Try to get some rest, dude, and lay off the comic books."

Harold's shoulders slumped in disappointment. They didn't believe him. None of them believed him.

A cruel chuckle came from behind him. "Tough luck, loser." Heather said, her grey eyes narrowed and gleaming. Her long raven hair slithered with delight.

Harold whirled around and pointed an index finger at Heather and Justin. "You may win this round, but Izzy, Ezekiel, and I are going to get Duncan and Courtney back and reveal the truth! The real Duncan! Not an imposter like you, Justin!"

"We'll see who finds those spiders first!" said Justin, folding his arms across his chest.

"Be careful, pathetic loser," Heather deviously warned, leaning in close. "Don't get in our way of million or else you'll make our friends on the other side very angry." With this dark warning hanging over the geek's head, Heather turned and left the lobby.

Justin fixed his blue-eyed stare on Harold. "Now, normally I don't resort to violence, since physical contact would disfigure my perfect complexion." A cruel sneer curled upon his Duncan face. "However, since I'm supposed to act like Duncan and since this body can't possibly get much more hideous…" Without warning, Justin launched forward and delivered a painful punch to Harold's stomach.

Harold instantly fell to his knees, clutching his gut and groaning in agony. Even though his eyes were squeezed shut, Harold heard Justin laugh and walk off, following after Heather. Alone and in pain, Harold fumed with indignation, angered at the fact that just as he had made amends with Duncan, a new bully had stepped up to make his life miserable.

_Not this time._ Harold silently swore. He would NOT let Justin and Heather win! He would NOT be scared by their threats of violence and voodoo magic! He would NOT let them unfairly steal the million dollar prize!

"Those two will get that million over my dead and perhaps zombified body!" Harold heroically proclaimed.

Suddenly the elevator doors opened and out walked out a charred and electrocuted Izzy. She was dragging out Ezekiel, who was smoking and still letting out charges of static. The insane redhead looked at the empty lobby and then down at Harold, who was still kneeling on the ground, clutching his gut in pain.

"So, what'd we miss?" Izzy asked with a grin.

Harold miserably groaned.

* * *

About five hundred feet in the air and fifty miles away from the hotel, a certain tarantula couple were still floating around, clinging to a several Chris balloons, and still heatedly arguing while a rainstorm raged on around them.

"I want you to know that I still blame this entire thing on you!" Courtney yelled angrily up at Duncan, who was a few inches above her on the balloon strings.

"What a complete surprise!" Duncan said, rudely rolling all four eyes, which was quite difficult to master, but after spending a couple of hours of listening to Courtney's complaints, the spider boy had it down to an art. "Like I haven't heard you say that about hundred times!"

Courtney lifted one of her free legs and wiped the rain from her glaring face. "Well, it's the absolute truth! If you hadn't been so perfidious, impulsive, incongruous…"

"Get to the point! Jeez, does it look like I carry around a thesaurus?"

The brown and purple spider continued as if he hadn't spoken at all. "…so idiotic enough to actually fall for Heather's tricks, then we would still be safe and sound at the hotel as humans! And I would be spending my half of the million instead of being stuck here with you!"

Duncan flipped his soggy green mohawk away from his face and glared down at Courtney, getting fed up with all her annoying rants.

"Oh, well if that's how you really feel, then what about I just take all the million and go as far away from you as possible?" Duncan nastily taunted, sneering at the angry look on Courtney's face. "How will you like that! Hahahaha…!"

_**Pop!**_

Duncan stopped laughing at the sounding popping. He lifted his face up and saw to his horror the balloons had floated down towards a large forest and had gone too close to one of the sharp, pointy tree branches.

"Uh-oh."

All the Chris balloons started to pop and Duncan and Courtney were sent falling down toward the forest floor along the shredded balloon fragments.

The two tarantulas screamed as they plummeted down through the forest canopy, passing by towering branches and whipping through the sprouting leaves as they got closer and closer to the ground.

Lady luck seemed to be on Courtney's side for once; the girl tarantula managed to get herself caught in some hanging vines and they suspended her in midair right before she was about to topple into the mud-covered ground. Courtney breathed a joyful sigh of relief at avoiding a painful, mud-splattering fall.

Then lady luck decided to be a bitch.

"_Aaaarrrgggghhhhhhhh!"_

Duncan fell right on top of Courtney, snapping the vines, and causing them both to fall into the slimy, mud covered ground with a big '_THUD!'_

The dark brown surface of the gooey mud bubbled for a second before a two tarantulas emerged, coughing and spluttering and completely filthy, covered head to all eight legs in mud.

Courtney vicious wiped the mud from her face so that her dark eyes, simmering with rage, could be seen. She pulled a soggy leave from her head and angrily threw it to the ground as she spat, "How dare you! Half of that money is mine!"

Duncan shook his self like a dog, flinging mud everywhere. He lifted one leg at a time to shake the mud off of all eight of them. "No way! I'm the winner of Total Drama Action! All the money belongs to me!"

"You would have never made it as far as you did in either season if it hadn't been for me!" Courtney argued, shaking the soggy leave in his face. "You horrid, lying pile of bull…"

"FROG!" Duncan yelled out a warning, scrambling out of the way as long sticky, pink tongue shot towards them. Courtney caught sight of the monstrously large bullfrog in the mud, staring hungrily at the spider couple with bulging yellow eyes. Screaming in fear, she crawled out of the mud, following after Duncan. The mohawked tarantula flung himself from mud and onto drier ground; he let out an 'oof!' when Courtney stumbled and fell on top of him.

"Excuse me, but if I do recall," Duncan said, lifting his face spider face up to the female lying on top of him. "I survived just fine after you were voted off in Total Drama Islan-Aaarrghhhh!" Both he and Courtney screamed in terror when a giant, pinkish-purple snake slithered from the tall grass and reared up, hissing as he eyed the two potential meals. It struck out; shrieking, Duncan and Courtney leaped in opposite directions, dodging just as the viper buried its fangs into the ground.

The tarantulas took this moment to begin crawling away as fast as their eight legs could take them. The snake pulled his fangs from the ground, shook his reptilian head, and swiftly slithered after them.

"Oh please!" Courtney continued bickering with Duncan even as they were fleeing for their lives through the dark forest floor. "If I hadn't helped you, you would have been voted off in some of the very first challenges!"

The snake struck out and they jumped.

"Oh yeah?" Duncan argued when they resumed scampering, "Name one time!"

"The phobia challenge!" Courtney said, leaping as the snake struck once again. "If I hadn't encouraged you, then you would have still been cowering in fear from Celine Dion!"

"I was NOT afraid of Celine Dion!" Duncan snapped, ducking from the viper's fangs. "I'm only afraid of Celine Dion _**standees**_!"

"Oh," Courtney sarcastically scoffed, "that sounds absolutely terrifiiiii_eeeeeeeeee_!" A pair of giant, talons suddenly wrapped themselves around Duncan and Courtney and lifted them up into the air.

"Fooooooodddddd!" hooted a large, Great Horned Owl. It looked down at the tarantulas in his talons, large amber eyes gleaming in the dark. "Gooooooooood foooooooood!"

"Holy _**censored**_! That thing's talking!" Duncan gasped, surprised that they could understand the speech of animals now.

"Don't change the subject!" Courtney snapped, still glaring at her companion and determined to win the argument. "You also need to give me half of the money because it's your fault that I got voted off in both seasons!"

"What are you talking about? Harold got you voted off in season one!"

"Only because he wanted revenge because of your constant immature bullying! So indirectly, it was your fault! You owe me that money!"

"Fooooooood toooooooo looooooouud!" The owl hooted, fixing his meal a ticked off glare.

"You stay out of this!" Duncan growled and viciously bit down on the meaty part of the owl's talon, sinking his venomous fangs into it. The giant nocturnal bird let out an ear-splitting screech and instantly dropped the spider couple.

For the second time that night, Duncan and Courtney plummeted from the drizzling, night sky. This time, they landed in a slow-moving stream. The two resurfaced and weary climbed onto a small, grey boulder sticking out of the dark water. Duncan, heaving with exhaustion, rested his head against the rock's surface, listening as Courtney coughed up some water. To his disappointment, almost getting eaten and drowning did nothing to shut the girl up.

"Listen Duncan," Courtney said, the anger in her voice melting to weariness, "back at the hotel, you promised that if I kissed you, you would give me my half of the money."

Duncan sat up and shook his head in an exaggerated manner. "Oh no, no, no! I promise to give you the money if your kiss changed me back to normal!" He gestured at their wet, foresty surroundings with his front leg. "Does this look normal to you?"

Courtney looked ready to explode. "Why you revolting, lying little…" suddenly her face went blank. She looked around the stream, staring as if in a trance.

"I know this place." She finally said in an oddly quiet, almost fearful voice.

Duncan blinked his four blue eyes and opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong but something else caught his attention and his question instead came out as, "Why are those boulders moving?"

Three grey boulders, almost identical to the one they were standing on, were slowly moving close to them.

"I know this place!" Courtney shrieked in fear, instinctively moving closer to Duncan; he, likewise, did the same until the two were back to back. "It's the stream from the animal challenge!"

Duncan gulped. "The animal challenge?" The boulders slid forward in the water and revealed giant fins.

Those were_**definitely**_not boulders.

Suddenly the boulder beneath the two tarantulas was shaking and, to their horror, a large, triangular head slowly rose from the depths of the murky water. The giant shark twisted his head around so that he was staring at the two little, eight-legged morsels on his back. The shark flashed them a deadly, sharp-toothed grin.

"Haha, I got dips on the big one!" the shark growled in a deep voice. He opened his jaws to sink his hundreds of fangs into the two spiders, but Courtney raised her front legs out and shouted.

"Wait! You can't eat us!" Courtney cried. "Don't you remember me? I'm Courtney! You're human from the challenge!"

The large shark snapped his jaws shut and stared down at Courtney with a confused expression on his pointed face. "Courtney?" He murmured in quiet, thoughtful voice.

Courtney smiled in relief. Her shark actually remembered her! He couldn't possibly eat her after all they've been through.

The shark twisted his head side to side, addressing the two other sharks besides him. "Sorry boys, change of plans." The other sharks groaned and while Duncan and Courtney cheered. Then Courtney's shark stared straight at his human partner and his expression turned sinister.

"You three get the big one." His jaw curled to a cruel sneer. "The gal's all mine!"

With that, all four sharks struck, leaping towards the two spiders with jaws snapping and teeth tearing.

Courtney managed to jump into the dark water before her partner shark could snatch her up, but she was instantly swept up by one of the large waves that the thrashing sharks were making. The powerful wave threw the girl tarantula up into the air and onto a high tree branch extending over the stream.

Hardly believing that she was still alive and safe, Courtney dared to look back down at the stream. The sharks were still thrashing around, trying to find and snap up a spidery dinner. She could hear the lead shark growling and wondering where the girl spider had gotten to. But where was Duncan?

"Courtney!" a voice called from below.

She looked down and saw Duncan, looking quite terrified, staring up at her from a small floating stump.

"Quick, throw me a vine!" He ordered in a loud, desperate whisper. His blue pupils kept flickering back towards the sharks, who hadn't realized where he was yet.

It looked as if Courtney was about to oblige; she held the vine up and was about to throw it down at him. Then she reconsidered and held it back.

"No." she coldly said, glaring down at him. "Not unless you promise me that you'll split the million with me when we get back!"

"WHAT?" Duncan slapped four legs over his mouth, too late realizing how loud his outburst had been. The four sharks instantly froze and turned their heads in Duncan's direction. Thunder rumbled up above.

"There he is!" Courtney's shark shouted, already beginning to swim towards the trapped spider.

"Come on, Court!" Duncan begged, franticly glancing from the oncoming sharks back to Courtney. "This isn't one of Chris's fake bomb challenges!" Fear was thick in his voice as he shouted, "You wouldn't let me die out here, would you?"

"You got me voted off, stole my money, changed me into a spider, almost got me killed and stranded in the middle of the god-forsakenness wilderness!" Courtney spat, "You just try me and see what I would or would not do!"

The sharks were closing in on Duncan. He could hear one of them ask, "Do you think he taste like crab?" Dark chuckles were the only reply.

Duncan couldn't take it any longer. _"FINE! HALF THE MILLION'S YOURS!"_ he screamed as the lead shark opened his jaws, revealing three rows of razor sharp teeth. _**"NOW FOR THE LOVE OF GOD THROW ME THE DAMN VINE! PLEASE!"**_

Courtney quickly tossed the vine down and Duncan swiftly clambered up just as the lead shark bit down on the wooden stump that Duncan had been on a second before. The giant shark spit the now shattered piece of wood out and jerked his head upwards, snarling and glaring his black beady eyes up at the branch where the two spiders now stood.

"You two better get comfy!" The vicious shark roared as his buddies slowly swam in circles under the branch. "Cause we'll be waiting! We own these waters, ya hear me!"

The tarantulas shivered in fear at the threat and continued to stare down at murky dark water, where four ominous fins now circled below them. When the horror of what just happened finally died down, Courtney turned to face Duncan. She was shocked into speechlessness by the iciness of his blue eyes. All warmth had drained from them as they glared at her, as hard as flint.

"We're done." He bluntly said. Even though his voice was low, it shook with outrage. "When we change back to humans, you can have your half of the money and do whatever you want with it. But we're through."

Despite all the anger she felt for Duncan, something inside Courtney broke at his words.

"Fine!" she angrily said, ignoring the pain that was shooting through her body. "After all this, I never want to see your two-timing face ever again!"

"That makes two of us!" Duncan spat. He turned his back to her and began to crawl to the opposite end of the branch. He had had enough of her rants and her spoiled selfishness.

"Fine!" Courtney cried, moving to her end of the branch. She snapped a large leave from the branch and, using it as a blanket, curled up to fall asleep.

"Fine!" Duncan did the same on his end.

"Fine…" Courtney sniffled despite the anger and pulled the leave blanket over her head, wondering if this night could get any worse.

Like a cat, Duncan tucked his eight legs underneath his body and miserably buried his head in the folds of his front legs. He, likewise, wondered the same thing.

"_Fine…"_

* * *

The morning fell upon the two transformed humans in a wave of warm sunlight and chorus of sweetly singing birds. On the big tree limb, Duncan's little spider body rose and fell in rhyme as he peacefully slumbered on, curled up underneath a large, green leave. Suddenly a large acorn hit him on the head.

"OW!" Duncan shot up, wide awake and staring around in confusion. For a moment, a jolt of panic went through him when he saw the strange, forest surroundings. _What happened? Where am I?_ He wondered, staring around perplexed. Then memories from the night and day before came back to him and he relaxed.

"So it wasn't a frinkin' nightmare after all." Duncan sighed cheerlessly, staring at his tan, hairy spider legs. _Damn it._

"Rise and shine, Duncan! We don't have all day!"

Duncan peered down over the edge of the branch; in the clear, bright blue water below, the sharks had vanished, probably to hunt for larger and easy to get prey. Focusing his sight away from the water, he spotted Courtney making her way down the vast tree trunk. Though he was still furious at the girl for tricking him into splitting his money and leaving him out as shark bait, the boiling, unspeakable rage he had felt the night before had immensely cooled after a deep sleep. Now, the delinquent was content with the idea of annoying the crap out of Courtney until they returned to normal and split paths.

"All day for what, Scruff-lina?" asked Duncan, christening her with a new nickname, which he himself thought was very clever. Strangely, Courtney did, in a strange way, remind him of his dear, beloved pet tarantula- both of them seemed to possess the instinct to kill him.

Courtney frowned and rolled her eyes, miffed at his new immature (and slightly pathetic) idea for a nickname. "We're heading back to the hotel to fix the mess that _you _got us into!"

Duncan, not quite feeling up to climbing all the way down the trunk, had fashioned a swing of web and was contently lowering himself down to the ground. He flashed Courtney a smug look as he passed and couldn't help but cockily reply, "Hey, you were the one that so_ desperately_ wanted a kiss!"

Courtney seethed with fury as the utterly impossible delinquent. She didn't know what annoyed her more- his smartass comment or that his ridiculous little silk swing was making more progress and getting him to ground faster than she.

"You know perfectly well why I kissed you, you annoying, lazy pest!" she shouted down at Duncan. The only reply she got was laughter.

_What did I ever see in him?_ Courtney mentally screamed. She was glad that they were officially broken up! It was clear as crystal that they were not suited for each other.

After a few minutes of lowering and climbing, both tarantulas had made safely to the ground.

"Took you long enough." Duncan uncouthly said the moment Courtney jumped down the remaining two feet off the trunk. He had made it to the ground five minutes before and had been waiting by the tree's long, bulging roots.

The brown and purple tarantula stomped over to Duncan, pointed a front leg to his face, right under where his nose would be. "Oh, don't you start with me, you…" Courtney crossly began before she was interrupted by a loud rustling noise in the bushes.

"What was that?" Courtney asked, her voice betraying a quiver of fear.

"More animals?" Duncan guessed, warily backing up.

The bushes rustled even more, shaking violently as if something large was about to come out of it.

"It's getting closer!" shrieked Courtney, eyes growing wide with fear. Was it the bullfrog? Or perhaps the killer viper?

Suddenly two glowing red eyes flashed from the shadows of the bushes.

Duncan and Courtney screamed and dashed towards each other, hugging their bodies close and squeezing their eyes shut in fear as they awaited what horrible, terrifying creature would come and devour them.

A moment or two passed. Courtney whimpered and clung to Duncan who tightened his hold on her. The mohawked tarantula warily opened one of his four eyes. The other three quickly flew open as well and widened in surprise.

It was only a cute little rabbit.

"Haha! It's just a dumb rabbit!" Duncan laughed out loud and, in his relief, accidently let go of Courtney. She fell to the ground, letting out a small gasp of surprise.

Suddenly the adorable, big-eyed rabbit got an angry expression on his face and stood up on its hind legs. It stomped towards Duncan and shouted in the bewildered spider's face.

"WHO YOU CALLING A RABBIT! I'M A BUNNY!" the bunny, despite looking like the most adorable thing on earth, sounded like an overweight truck driver who had a bad chain-smoking problem. His breath wasn't very pleasant either; Duncan managed to get a good whiff of rotten carrots.

"Gwah!" Duncan gagged and fanned the air around his face, slightly turning his head in disgust. "They're the same thing you moron!"

"Are not! They're…" The bunny never got to tell Duncan the difference between a rabbit and bunny. The cute (but really not so cute) creature trailed his sentence off and stared down at Duncan, particularly at his green mohawk. Suddenly his bunny face lit up.

"Hey! I know you!" The bunny shouted, jumping in the air with delight. "You're Duncan from the Killer Bass!"

Courtney picked herself back up from the ground "You know this bunny, Duncan?" she exclaimed in astonished tones.

"No!" Duncan replied, as shocked as Courtney.

"Rabbit stew?" offered the bunny, raising and lowering his brows suggestively.

"What do you mean? Rabbit ste…"

Duncan was then hit by a sudden flashback of what had happened during the campout challenge in Total Drama Island.

_**Flashback…**_

"_Hey guys!" DJ called, walking up to the Screaming Gophers campsite, "Look what I found!" he revealed a cute, adorable grey and white bunny in his arms. The bunny let out deep-throated cough._

"_Well," Duncan replied, eyeing the bunny with interest, "I never had rabbit stew before but what the heck? I'm game."_

_DJ looked appalled. "No! This is my new pet!" He cried, petting the little thing. "I'm naming him Bunny!"_

_**End of Flashback…**_

Duncan blinked and stared, blue eyes wide and mouth open in shock.

"Bunny?" He gasped, unable to believe it. "Bunny, Bunny?"

"That's impossible!" Courtney cried. "Bunny is dead!"

"Yeah, you got eaten by a snake!" Duncan stated, remembering what Geoff had told him of the pet-sitting disaster.

"And an eagle!" added Courtney. Bridgette had told her the same story.

"And a shark!"

Bunny raised his paws for silence. "First off, the name is 'Bunn-_**eh**_'. Not 'Bunn-_**y**_'! That just sounds ridiculous!" Neither Courtney nor Duncan could honestly tell the difference. "Secondly, yes, I may have had a bit of a mishap, but I showed those predators who's boss!" Bunneh said in a tough voice, pumping his little furry fist in the air. "I gave them a 'HYAH!'" he did a karate kick, "And a 'HI-YA!'" he punched the air before him. "Then I finished them off with a 'YWWEEOHAHAHAH!" the rabbit thrashed around wildly, growing and baring his teeth. He then leaned back against the tree trunk and gave the two spiders a smug grin. "You won't find those guys messing with me any time soon, I tell you."

Duncan and Courtney could only stare in bewilderment.

"But wait," Duncan said, finally managing to find his voice after seeing that weird little presentation, "if you've been alive all this time, why haven't you gone back to DJ?"

Bunneh's long ears drooped as a rather embarrassed expression crossed the rabbit's face. "Uhh…well…you see…" he stammered and scratched the back of his furry head in a confused manner. "…I…uhh…was busy. Yeah! That's it! I was busy!" Bunneh pulled out a ukulele-shaped twig with spider strings attached to it. He began to pluck the strings and play it like a guitar. "Ta-dah! As the official pet star of Total Drama Island, I thought I should have me my own special talent! I mean, I know Lassie has that whole 'well' thing going on, but can that dog beat a ukulele playing bunny? DON'T THINK SO!"

"But DJ has a new pet bunny," Courtney said, "After you left, Dunc-MMH!" Duncan's slapped his front leg over her mouth.

"_Ish_-nay, on the bunny-_ay_!" Duncan quietly hissed. Last thing he wanted was this psycho rabbit to be mad at him.

Bunneh's eyes grew wide and a string on the ukulele snapped.

"WHAT?" He let out an outraged growl. "I GOT REPLACED! WHO'S THE SON OF A JACKRABBIT THAT TOOK MY HUMAN AND REPLACED ME! I'LL SHOW THAT GUY WHO'S THE TOP DOG OF THIS SHOW!'

"O…kay…" Courtney nervously said. She gave Bunneh a polite, forced smile. "It was nice meeting you again, Bunneh. It's a pleasure to see that you haven't been digested." She grabbed Duncan's front leg and began to drag him off, heading in the opposite direction of the crazy rabbit. "But Duncan and I really have to go!"

Bunneh stopped yelling in fury and hopped after them. "Wait, where're you two going?"

"Off to the city." Duncan said, crawling after Courtney through the green, leafy bushes.

"Why?" questioned the bunny curiously.

"Because we have to get back to Total Drama set and change back into humans." Courtney explained. She shot Duncan a severe glare. "He managed to get both of us transformed into tarantulas!"

Bunneh snapped his fingers and smiled. "I knew there was something differently about you two! I thought you guys just got a new haircut!" The rabbit then gave a puzzled frown. "But why are going all the way into the city? Camp Wananaka is right here in the forest."

"But no one's there." Duncan argued.

Courtney's eyes lit up. "Except…"

"Except…?" Duncan questioned, raising a brow.

"Chef!" Courtney exclaimed, smiling. "Chris said that Chef was at Camp Wananaka! We can go to him and he'll be able to help us."

"No way." Duncan said, scowling. "We're not going to Chef for help! In case you've forgotten, that guy hates us…particularly me! If I go near him like this, then he'll probably squish me!"

"But it's the quickest way! Don't forget, we only have one day before the reward ceremony."

Damn, he had forgotten all about the stupid reward ceremony.

"If Heather or Justin get that money before you do," Courtney continued, "then they can make use that you'll never be able to have it, even if you do turn human again."

Even though Duncan loathed the idea of going to Chef for help, he had to admit that Courtney was right. Right now, all that mattered was getting back to the Total Drama Action set before Chris decked out the million tomorrow night.

"Fine." Duncan said, heaving an exhausted sigh. Both him and Courtney turned to Bunneh and together asked, "Can you take us there?"

Bunneh looked shocked. "No way!" he cried, shaking his head and waving his paws around. "That big Chef guy is crazy! Do you want me to become rabbit stew?" Without waiting for their answer, the Bunneh turned away from them, laid down in the grass, and started to play his ukulele.

The two tarantulas gave each other hopeless looks.

"Looks like we'll have to find our way back to camp on our own." Courtney said, shrugging her spider shoulders as she began to turn away.

Duncan gestured for her to be still. "Hold on," he said, with cunning gleam in his four blue eyes. "I have an idea." He slowly crawled up to Bunneh and began to speak in a conversational manner.

"It's too bad you want take us back to Camp Wananaka." Duncan droned in a slow, casual voice. He studied the ends of his front legs as he continued speaking, well aware that Bunneh was listening. "Cause, you know, we could have taken you back with us to the city. DJ would have been excited to see you again….would have forgotten all about that new bunny of his."

Bunneh's eyes popped open and he froze from pulling a string on the instrument.

"But, I guess you're not interested." Duncan finished. He waved farewell to the rabbit and began crawling back to Courtney. "Enjoy a boring life in the wilderness!"

"That's it?" Courtney questioned when Duncan returned to her side. She sounded very unimpressed by his performance.

"Wait for it…" Duncan murmured. _One…Two….Three…_

"WAIT!" Bunneh shouted, hopping after the tarantula couple. "What if I went back with you to the city? Then DJ would take me back and I'd be the top pet of Total Drama Island again!"

"Told ya." Duncan whispered to Courtney, smirking in victory. He then turned his attention back to the rabbit. "Bunneh, that's completely genius. Couldn't have thought of a better idea myself."

Courtney just gave the boys an annoying eye roll.

"Then it's off to Camp Wananaka!" Bunneh shouted as he hopped ahead of the couple, leading them deeper into the forest still playing his ukulele.

"Hey, you know what would make this trip really fun?" the rabbit suggested. "Let's sing a song broadway-style about you two are going to do once you're human again! Here, I'll start you out…_**Oh, when I'm human**_…take it away, Duncan!"

"Shut up."

"Take it away, Courtney!"

"Bunneh, we're not singing!"

"Jeez, you two would be a lot more fun as frogs…"

* * *

**Please don't kill me for my choice for Louis. I know that you all were expecting something big and furious for him and, at the beginning, I was going to make him something big and threatening. However, once I found my choice for Ray, I knew that I had to change my choice for Louis to make it work. I'll give a full, detailed explanation once I reveal who Ray is. However, it was really fun bringing the original Bunny back. The name "Bunneh" is just an old inside joke that I wanted to Yes, I made him have a deep smoker's voice, but really, did you not here that rabbit cough in the episode?xDDDDD **

**Anywho, hope you guys enjoyed! Please read and review!^^**


	10. Bonus Chapter: When We're Human!

**Author's Note: Okay, so for the last three weeks, my family's been in the process of packing and moving into our new house. During that time, the internet at our current home has been cut off and I've only just got it hooked up at my new house. I'm sorry for the long wait in an update. However, to make up for it and to satisfy the curiosity of all those who were wondering what it would have been like to have Courtney, Duncan, and Bunneh actually sing "When We're Human," I've posted up two new chapters. This chapter is just a bonus chapter that shows an alternate ending to the previous chapter, one that has them singing. I mainly did this because my sister really wanted to hear them sing it and, quite honestly, I did too. It's such a fun song and scene and I had a great time adapting it to fit Duncan, Courtney, and Bunneh. The next chapter is the real new chapter. **

**Before I start the bonus chapter, I'd like to apologize for getting Duncan's team messed up in the previous chapter. My bad. Don't worry, I edited the mistake. I'd also like to reply to a couple of wonderful reviews...**

**X0PapaRoachx0: No, "Bunneh" is not a reference to RWJ…whatever that is. It's actually a tribute to this old Danny Phantom RP group (The Evil Cookie Club) I had been in a couple of years ago. We called Dark Danny "Danneh" and slapped and humiliated him a lot. Such good fun.**

**CarmillaD: It's true that some tarantulas can eat frogs, but Bullfrogs can grow pretty frinkin' big and are known to eat mice, birds, and basically anything that can fit into their mouth. Anywho, thanks for the awesome comment! Glad you liked Bunneh!**

**Thank you all for the great reviews and I hope you enjoy this fun chapter!**

* * *

"We're not singing, Bunneh!" Courtney told her and Duncan's new rabbit companion. The tarantula couple was following the slightly hare-brained Bunneh deep into the Canadian forest. The morning sun was shining down brightly, giving the leafy forest a cheerful, relaxed atmosphere. Squirrels scampered in the tree branches above the traveling trio while butterflies lazily floated along and birds twittered in the air. To Duncan and Courtney, it appeared like an entirely different place from the horrid, dangerous place it had been last night.

"Oh fine…" Bunneh forlornly mumbled, hopping a few feet ahead of the teen arachnids. "You two don't have to sing."

"Finally." Duncan grumpily muttered, crawling under an arched tree root as he followed DJ's former pet.

"I'll sing first and then you!" the tiny bunny said, smiling widely.

"WHAT?"

Oblivious to his companions' cries of protest, Bunneh began to loudly play his ukulele, hopping like a juggernaut left to right across the forest floor while Duncan and Courtney struggled to keep up.

"_**Oh, when you're human being,"**_Bunneh sang in his deep, rugged voice, addressing the spider couple. He grabbed hold of Duncan and began to spin the teen boy around singing, _**"Wawanakwa's where I'll be"**_ Bunneh placed Duncan on a low tree branch and, grabbing Courtney with his long ears, threw her onto the branch next to Duncan.

"_**I'll show the world a new pet star like no one has ever seen!" **_the rabbit sang, wriggling his ears and eyebrows at the spiders. Duncan and Courtney were sitting on the low tree branch, watching and listening to Bunneh with amused smiles on their faces.

"_**You've all heard of Lassy. Oh Rin Tin Tin Tin!"**_ Bunneh sang, wriggling his butt and tail back and forth. He whirled around like he was on stage, ukulele in paw and cried, _**"All those pets gotta step aside when they hear this bunny play! LISTEN!"**_

Bunneh began to hop on the large, bulging roots of the tree that Duncan and Courtney were in, play his ukulele loud and proud. Jumping up and down and upside down- it didn't matter what Bunneh was doing, he was still playing the ukulele like a pro, filling the air with an irresistible tune. Even Duncan and Courtney were impressed.

"Oh yeah! Play that twig!" Duncan shouted, swaying his round body back and forth with the music as his eight legs tapped with pleasure to the beat. Courtney watched Bunneh play with a smile on her face, making sure to roll her four eyes at on cue at Duncan's overenthusiastic dancing. This was worse than his dancing at Owen's victory party last season!

A raccoon that had been woken up by all the noise and music, stuck his furry masked head out hollow and fixed Duncan with a sleepy glare.

Suddenly, Bunneh, who was too busy playing his ukulele to look where he was hopping, missed a root and landed in a large bush, sending a shower of green leaves up at the tarantulas and raccoon. They all let out gasps of surprise before being covered in a rain of leaves.

As the shower of leaves subsided, Duncan and Courtney lowered strings of spider web down the tree, into the bush, and slowly began to lift Bunneh up.

"_**When you're human, as I hope you'll be,"**_ sang Bunneh as he was rose up into the tree on a swing of spider web. He jumped onto the tree branch with Duncan and Courtney. _**"I'm going to play this thing while the camera rolls and everyone's going to bow down to me!" **_

Pushing the tarantula couple aside, Bunneh strolled down the long tree limb as if it were the Hollywood red carpet, waving and blowing kisses to an invisible audience.

"Thank you! I love you guys! No autographs! Please ladies, there's enough Bunneh to go around!" gushed Bunneh showing off an even bigger ego than Chris as he led Duncan and Courtney across the tree branch, jumping over to the branch of the next tree. He passed by the raccoon's hollow and played his ukulele extra loudly. The raccoon growled and plugged in one ear with one paw and shook the other one angrily at the rabbit and the two spiders as they crossed over to the next tree.

Duncan, caught up in Bunneh's music and enthusiasm, began to sing along, much to Courtney's annoyance.

"_**When I'm myself again, a millionaire life is what I'll have." **_Sang Duncan, carving a skull with a crown on its head into the bark of the tree with a sharp stone he'd found. The tree the trio was in was covered in blooming orange flowers that hung over them like bright, sweet-smelling bells. Duncan snatched some flowers in his legs and tossed them in the air like confetti.

"_**A great big party every night! That doesn't sound too bad."**_ Duncan sang as orange petals rained down on him and Courtney. Courtney made an angry noise and glared, furious that he was thinking of spending all his money on partying like Owen. One Owen was all the world needed!

Enticed by the cheerful music and singing, several pretty birds began to flutter and land on the branches around the rabbit and tarantulas. Duncan noticed and flashed the lovely feathered beauties a flirtish smile. The birds all swooned and giggled while Courtney simmered with rage.

"_**A redhead on my left arm."**_ Duncan started to sing. A pretty red-feathered bird landed the branch and rubbed against the delinquent's left arm, "oohing" in delight.

"_**A brunette on my right!"**_ A brown-feathered beauty landed on Duncan's right side, leaning against him and giggling.

Not wanting to miss out on having their share of the handsome tarantula, several bright yellow birds flew down and perched on the branch on either side of Duncan and the redhead and brunette bird.

"_**A blonde or two to hold the candles, now that sounds just about right!" **_Sang Duncan as the beautiful songbirds all kicked up their legs and fluttered their wings to dance along with the music. He twirled around and stuck his butt up in the air, shooting out a string of silk up; it stuck to a branch above him and pulled Duncan up into the air. The birds launched themselves into the air, circling around Duncan and flashing off their brilliant display of color.

"_**Hey Bunneh!"**_ Duncan yelled as the silk string snapped and he came falling back to earth. A couple of birds flew below and caught him. _**"Life is short, when you're done, you're done! We're on this earth to have some fun!" **_sang Duncan as the birds lowered him onto the branch next to Bunneh. The eight-legged teen leaned against Bunneh's back, singing, _**"That's the way things are!"**_

"Tell it brother!" laugh Bunneh, still playing his ukulele. The rabbit was leading them over to a particularly thin branch that shook violently as they crossed it to make it to the next tree. Courtney, being the last one, was suffering the most; the girl tarantula could barely keep her balance and stay on as Bunneh and Duncan shook the branch with all their antics.

"_**When I'm human, and I'm going to be,"**_ Duncan sang, dancing right behind Bunneh, _**"I'm gonna tear things up like I did before! And that's a big fat guarantee!" **_

Duncan ended in his little musical number with a spectacular dance move, rolling down the downward branch, jumping up in the air, and doing a somersault right over Courtney. He landed right in the midst of the flock of lovely songbirds who all cheered and crowded around Duncan, smothering him with attention.

"Hello ladies." Duncan smoothly said, giving them a charming wink.

The lady birds all gushed and swooned, holding their wings over their hearts.

Courtney had had enough. Practically tasting vomit in her mouth, Courtney snapped off a twig and crawled over towards Duncan and the birds.

"Ever heard of the Birdeater tarantula?" the transformed girl snarled, viciously beating off the flirtatious birds away from Duncan with the twig, ignoring their cries of protest.

"Aww, is someone jealous?" Duncan cooed to Courtney in mocking tones. He was staring at her, blue eye half-lidded with amusement at her display of jealous brutality.

"Me? Jealous?" Courtney scoffed in annoyed tones, putting her front legs on the sides of her body, still holding the sharp twig. "They're birds!"

A cocky smirk spread across his spider face. "Can I help it that no species can resist me?" Duncan exclaimed. He lifted his face up towards the retreated birds and shouted, "CALL ME!"

The birds all exhaled sighs of sadness and waved farewell, blowing the gloriously handsome spider kisses as they left.

Courtney rolled her dark eyes and gave Duncan an irritated push in the chest. _**"Your modesty becomes you,"**_ She sang to Duncan in sarcastic tones, crawling away back towards Bunneh, _**"And your sense of responsibility. I worked hard for everything I got!"**_ Courtney proclaimed, oblivious to Duncan, who was making faces at her backside. _**"And that's the way it's supposed to be!"**_

Duncan ignored her and snapped off two twigs from the branch. He snapped the two twigs in half, creating four smaller twigs; grabbing each small twig with four of his legs, Duncan began to bang them against the tree's surface like a drum as he walked and followed Bunneh, drowning out Courtney's words with the music.

"_**When I'm human being," **_Courtney proudly sang, _**"At least I'll act like one!"**_ Courtney's large eyes filled with shock when she saw that Bunneh and Duncan, too busy playing the ukulele or banging twigs like a drum to notice where they were going, were about to walk off the branch into empty air.

"_**If you do your best each and every day,"**_ sang Courtney as she hurriedly scampered up the trunk of the tree that they were in. When she was high enough, the girl tarantula leaped off and fell straight onto the branch of the next tree over, lowering the branch with her weight so that it levered off where Bunneh and Duncan would walk onto it. _**"Good things are sure to come your way!"**_

"_**What you give is what you get!"**_ the CIT continued to sing as she guided the absent-minded Bunneh and Duncan, who had too much music in their heads to pay attention, through the network of tree branches, lowering or raising the branches using her spider thread or twig. _**"That's my philosophy so never forget!" **_

"_**I commend it to you." **_Courtney sang to them as the trio finally reached a tree that's branches was stable, particularly to Duncan who was hanging upside down from the tree limb, banging the trunk with his twigs.

Duncan lifted himself back up as he and Bunneh leaped on either side of Courtney and the trio loudly sang.

"_**When we're human, and we're going to be!"**_

Bunneh threw his ukulele up in the air, caught it, pulled a few strings and sang, _**"I'm gonna be a star!"**_

Duncan leaped up, banging his twigs on the branch above them, singing, _**"I'm gonna live the rich life!"**_

Courtney puffed her chest out and raised her head rise, crying in a lovely voice, _**"I'm gonna do my best to take my place in the sunnnnnnn!"**_

_**SNAP!**_

The three friends froze, eyes wide with shock, as the branch beneath them groaned under their weight and finally snapped, falling to the ground with the trio still on it. The branch, with the rabbit and tarantulas clinging to it, hit the forest ground and began to slide down a large hill.

"_**Whhhheeeeennnnnnn...."**_ the friends sang as the branch raced down the hill, gaining speed as it slid towards the bottom.

"_**Weeee'rrreeeeeeeeee……"**_ At the bottom of the hill, there was large boulder. Bunneh, Courtney, and Duncan all grabbed on to each other as the branch nailed into the boulder and was sent flying up into the air. Down below them was a large lake.

"_**Humaaannnnnnnnn!"**_

_**SPLASH!**_

The wooden branch floated across the lake's still, watery surface. A second later, two small heads, popped up under the lake, soaking wet with soggy hair dripping over their spider faces.

"Let's…let's not do that again." Courtney suggested, flipping a strand of brown hair from her eyes.

"Gotcha." Duncan agreed, shaking the water from his mohawk.

Suddenly a larger head popped up from the water between them.

"WHOO-HOO!" Bunneh happily shouted, slapping the water with his paw. "WHO'S UP FOR A REPRISE?"

Duncan and Courtney each grabbed one of Bunneh's longs ears and roughly pushed him back underwater.

* * *

**Well, that was fun to write. Hope you guys enjoyed reading it! Next chapter is the real one! Please read and review!^^**


	11. Tangled Webs

**Author's Note: As promised, here's the real new chapter! Hope you guys enjoy!**

* * *

"There! It is complete!"

Harold dropped the bright green marker he had been using only a moment before and held up a sheet of paper, gazing proudly at his so called masterpiece. In reality, it was anything but that. On the paper, Harold had drawn two images of Duncan and Courtney in their tarantula forms with colored markers. The pictures were crude to say that least; both Duncan and Courtney looked like big colored blobs with scribbles for legs and angry scowls on their faces. However, it was still recognizable enough. At the top of the poster, the words LOST were printed big, block letters at the top of the poster.

"Now, I just need to print some of copies out," Harold told himself as he crossed the length of his hotel room. Sunlight was streaming through his window, which still had a large, cracked hole in the center where Duncan and Courtney had burst through. A bright, yellow butterfly had perched itself on one of the jagged glass edges, raising and lowering its wings as it watched the actions of the red-head nerd in the room.

"I'll sneak out, head into town,'' he continued, turning the door handle. "And post these up. Hopefully, somebody will find them and bring them back by tomorrow night."

As Harold walked through the doorway, a hand suddenly reached down from above and snatched the piece of paper from his hand. A maniacally laughter immediately followed.

"Oooohhh, what's this?" Izzy asked. The green skirted girl was hanging from the ceiling above Harold's doorway. Still holding the poster in her hand, Izzy leaped down, landing on all fours like a cat next to Harold.

"It's a wanted poster for Duncan and Courtney." Harold told Izzy, watching with nervous caution as the crazy teen circled around him. "I'm post copies around town to see if anyone's seen them. I mean…it's hard to miss a pair of tarantulas in Canada, don't you think?"

Izzy read the bottom of the poster. An eyebrow rose and a giggle escaped. "Heehee! You're saying they're your pets?"

Harold pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, scowling. "After last night, it's safe to say that this story is a lot more believable." The skinny teen snatched the paper from Izzy's hands, and stared at it while unleashing a depressed sigh. "Everybody thinks I'm insane…even LeShawna."

Izzy gave Harold's shoulder a comforting pat. "Aaww, that's not true. I think you're just as sane as I am!"

Harold's expression grew even more depressed. "Jeez…thanks."

"Izzy! I'm all durn, eh!" a heavily accented voice called out. Ezekiel came running up with a cardboard box under his arm.

Izzy's demeanor immediately transformed. She smiled brightly at Ezekiel and spoke to him in a strange, mystic voice. "Ah, you have collected the last of Mama Juju's assistants!"

Harold shot Ezekiel a questionable look. "Mama Juju?"

Ezekiel shrugged his shoulders. "She's the Voodoo queen of all Canada, eh." He explained in a nonchalant way as if he was already used to Izzy using the title. She had been ordering him to call her that all morning while he helped Izzy find her...assistants.

Harold resisted the urge to groan out loud. The last thing they needed was Izzy creating a whole new personality, especially one that involved voodoo. "What assistants are you talking about?" he dared to ask.

A wide, toothy smile spread across the redhead girl's face. Harold immediately knew he would heavily regret asking.

"Spiders." She answered.

Harold blinked, trying to make sure he heard right. "Spiders?"

Izzy nodded. "Yep! Spiders! Turns out, Zekey here is top notched at hunting down spiders!" She patted the box under Ezekiel's arm as she said this. Ezekiel actually looked proud at this little fact.

Harold, on the hand, eyed the box warily. "Uh, why exactly did you guys collect a bunch of spiders?"

Izzy snatched the box from Ezekiel and stroked its surface as she spoke in her southern, Mama Juju voice. "Ahhh, do you not see? These spiders shall help us seek out Duncan and Courtney. They and the spiders are cousins now, all connected in the giant spider web of life!"

Ezekiel and Harold just stared, each boy giving Izzy a strange expression.

"O…okay. Gosh, that sounds great, Izzy." Harold said, shooting his friend a small, nervous smile and backing away. He pointed at his poster. "You do that and I'll go post this poster up."

"What are you kids doing?" asked a voice from behind Harold. The teens whirled around and saw Billy, Chris' intern, watching them.

"Just talking, gosh!" Harold replied in slightly annoyed tones. It wasn't as if Billy was that much older than them. He was only like twenty or something.

Billy ignored him and pointed a finger at box Izzy was holding. "Is that a package from home?" he asked.

Izzy, Ezekiel, and Harold shot each other sideways glances. "Uhhhh…"

The intern didn't wait for them to answer. "Izzy, now you know Chris' rules. All packages from home must be examined by authority figures before opened." He reached over and took the package from Izzy.

"Uh, Billy, I don't think you want to open that." Harold warned, taking a step back.

Billy ignored the younger boy and opened the box. Hundreds of tiny spiders immediately crawled out and covered the intern. Billy dropped the box and ran down the hallway, covered in spiders and screaming his head off. Izzy bolted after him.

"Hey! Come back with my spiders!" she yelled, chasing at him. Ezekiel followed her, leaving Harold with a bewildered look on his face. He stared down the hallway for a couple more seconds before giving a shrug and turning to resume his intentions on making copies of his poster. As he turned around, Harold accidently knocked into someone. He fell to the ground, letting go of his paper in the process.

Harold heard the crush of someone gripping the poster. "What do we have here loser?"

Still lying on his butt on the ground, Harold paused from rubbing the side of his head at the sound of the familiar voice and stared at the ground, green eyes wide, not wanting to look up.

_Don't let it be him. Don't let it be him. Don't let it be him."_ Harold prayed, eyes closed as he slowly lifted his head. He opened his eyes and saw Duncan's face, which was really Justin's, looking down at him with a cruel sneer on his face. Even though Justin's body was identical to that of Duncan's, his eyes and voice were still the same.

"Rats, it's him." Harold grumbled. The geek lifted him self off the ground, standing up fearlessly against the more muscled teen. He extended his arm, palm opened.

"Give it back, imposter!" Harold demanded. Even though the nerd was weaker and scrawnier than Justin, after his experience with Duncan during season one and season two of the show, Harold was determined not be pushed around any more.

Justin ignored him and stretched paper out in front of his face to read it. When Justin lowered the poster, his expression was stormy and dark.

"What the heck is this?" the delinquent-faced model growled, thrusting his free hand roughly into Harold's skinny chest. Harold stumbled, glaring angrily at Justin after he found is footing.

"I'm informing the public of your lies and treachery!" announced Harold.

Justin gave a dark chuckle. "By posting up a lost pet poster?" He crumbled the poster up into a ball, ignoring Harold's loud "Hey!", and threw it to the ground.

"What did I tell you about trying to get in our way?" Justin asked, taking a menacing step towards Harold. A flash of fear hit Harold. Ever since last night, Justin, no longer confined by the restrictions of having a perfect body, had taken a thrill in acting in Duncan's place as the bully of the show. That morning, the model had discovered the joys of wedgies, wet-willies, pantsing, and many other juvenile acts, all that he had been unwilling do earlier out of vanity. Now with Duncan's body, it was possible.

"I always wanted to try giving out a swirly." Justin snidely remarked, leering over the nerd. "Care to take a head trip down the hotel toilet?"

Justin took a sideways glance at a mirror hanging in the hallway. He unleashed a frightened squeal at his reflection and instantly punched it, cracking it.

Despite his newfound bullying abilities, Justin still couldn't stand seeing his new hideous face. Most of the mirrors in the hotel had suffered from this little fact.

Harold took this opportunity to make a dash for it. He ran down the hallway towards the elevator. "You and Heather won't get away with what you did to Duncan and Courtney!"

"We already have nerd." Justin said. He stomped his foot on top of Harold's crumbled poster, crushing it to the ground. "We already have." With those final words, Justin pursued after the nerd like a snake slithering after a mouse.

After the hallway was clear and silent, one of the doors opened and Bridgette slowly crept out.

"Harold?" she stared in the direction where Justin and Harold had ran off, turquoise eyes wide with disbelief at what she had just seen and heard through behind closed door. None of what the conversation she had heard made any sense. Harold was accusing Duncan of teaming up with Heather and doing something with Courtney and…_Duncan_? Last night Harold was talking about Justin and Heather teaming up and coming up with an evil voodoo plan. Why was he changing the story? Why did Duncan seem to be going along with it?

"What's going on here?" Bridgette whispered. She took a step forward and heard something crush under her foot. The blonde surfer girl looked down and lifted her foot; there was a crumpled piece of paper under it.

Bridgette picked up the paper and held it to her face, staring in curious bewilderment at the two pictures drawn on it of two tarantulas that looked oddly familiar. Harold's ridiculous and unbelievable story from last night echoed in her mind.

"What's yah looking at Bridge?" Geoff asked, walking up to his beloved girlfriend with two soda cans in hand. He leaned down to plant a kiss on her cheek.

"I…I…I gotta go!" Bridgette ducked from Geoff's lips causing him to accidentally fall to the ground, and hurried down the hallway towards the elevator, paper still in her hand. Bridgette felt bad for leaving Geoff, but she couldn't have him distracting her at the moment. They'd kiss and make out later; right now she needed to get down to the lobby and ask someone for an extra card key, but not to her own hotel room. No, it was Courtney's she needed to see. Something was wrong with her best friend and she needed to find out what.

As much as Bridgette didn't want to admit it, she was beginning to believe the unbelievable.

* * *

Miles away, deep in the Canadian forest in Wananaka Island, three small creatures were continuing their journey to Camp Wananaka, the setting for season one of the hit reality show, Total Drama Island. Two former contestants of the show, Duncan and Courtney, were reluctantly being led back to the place of drama-filled nightmares by their friend DJ's former pet bunny, Bunneh, in order to seek help from the only person left at the old campsite, Chef. Like it or not, they needed the old, grizzled chef's help in order to change back from tarantulas to human again.

Hopefully, if spider couple were lucky, they wouldn't end up in a stew after asking for Chef's help.

"So after the whole mall incident and after I got my pet tarantula, Scruffy, my brother started dating the girl working at the mall ice cream parlor." Duncan said to Bunneh.

As they trudged across the mossy forest floor, Duncan was crawling side by side with Bunneh while Courtney followed behind. The two males had bonded greatly over the course of the day due mainly due mostly to their similar crude sense of humor and, in Courtney's opinion, ogre-ish behavior. At the moment, Duncan was telling Bunneh about an incident from his childhood that involved the mall, Scruffy, and his older brother dating some ice cream girl.

"Was she hot?" Bunneh excitedly asked the smaller male.

"Absolutely smoking!" answered Duncan, outlining womanly curves in the air with his front legs. Bunneh unleashed a wolf-whistle.

Walking a few steps behind the two buddies, Courtney gave an irritated groan, holding a leg to her temple as she suppressed a headache caused by listening to those two idiots for hours.

"You know, Bunneh," she grumbled, glaring at the boys walking ahead of her and swiping a long blade of grass away from her face. "You were a lot cuter when you didn't talk!"

Bunneh and Duncan were oblivious to her irritation….or else didn't care.

"Not only that," Duncan continued with his story, "but she always gave me free ice cream whenever my brother took me along to visit her." A dreamy expression spread across Duncan's face as food-filled memories floated into his mind. "Chocolate...rocky road…banana slits with cherries and sprinkles…whipped cream…" His mouth began to water. "…marshmallows…gummi worms….ooohhhh…" Duncan moaned in pleasure, licking his lips at the thought of the sugary sweet treats.

Courtney's stomach unleashed a giant growl. Unable to take it any longer, Courtney pressed her front legs against the sides of her head, threw her head back, and yelled, "Oh, shut up, Duncan! I'm starving back here!"

Neither Duncan nor Courtney had anything to eat since breakfast at the hotel yesterday morning. Evening had fallen by now, streaking the purple-blue sky with strands of pink. A pale full moon hung above the treetops and a few stars had begun to shine. Though there was still some sunlight left, down on the forest floor, shadowed over by the tree branches, it was becoming quite dark. Of course, only thing that the two teenagers were aware of at the moment was that it was dinner time, and they had nothing to show for it.

Duncan stopped crawling and leaned his back against a rock. Thinking about food had been a bad idea. Now his stomach was complaining, rumbling and sending up shots of pain. As he patted his protesting stomach, Duncan noticed a group of gnats and mosquitoes fly over him. For some odd reason, the boy found himself thinking about how absolutely _delicious_ the bugs looked.

The mohawked tarantula clacked his fangs down once, as if testing them out, and then gave his silk filled abdomen a curious backwards glance, giving it an experimental wiggle.

"Well, I have the right equipment." He commented. Duncan glanced back up at the juicy looking bugs flying around and hungrily licked his lips. The tarantula began climbing up the tree.

Courtney saw Duncan scaling up the tree trunk and called for Bunneh to halt. "What in the world are you doing now?" she yelled up at him. Bunneh just watched.

Duncan had chambered upon the center of one of the tree branches. Below him flew a dark, buzzing cloud of flying insects. "Pipe down, Princess! I'm trying to snatch up some grub!"

Courtney scrunched up her face in disgust. "Eeeeewww! That's revolting, Duncan!"

Duncan drew out a long thread of string from his spider abdomen and began to fiddle with it. "Compared to the gruel Chef makes us eat, the stuff down there will be like a delicious, exotic appetizer." the spider teen stated, tying the silk thread into a lasso.

Duncan looked down at the cloud of bugs buzzing below. He spotted a particularly fat horse fly, after taking careful aim, spun the lasso in air and let it fly. The horse fly saw it coming and lazily buzzed away. The only thing Duncan caught was empty air.

"Darn it!" he gave a frustrated yell. Duncan spotted a firefly flashing by. "Okay," he said, eyeing the meal hungrily, "Let's try something a little different."

Crouching low to the tree bark like a lion on the prowl, Duncan slowly scampered down the length the branch, four eyes narrowed with intense concentration as he kept his sights on the firefly. When Duncan reached the end of the branch, he turned around so that his back was facing the direction of the firefly.

"It's not going to work." Courtney said in an annoying sing-songy voice, already guessing what he was doing.

"Nobody asked you." Duncan replied in the same sing-songy voice, turning his head to watch the firefly and wiggling his butt until the aim was perfect. When the firefly flew near, Duncan shot a jet of spider silk from his abdomen straight at the glowing insect.

Before the string of silk could hit it, the firefly dodged away; instead of hitting the firefly, Duncan's jet of silk smashed into a twig sprouting from the branch behind where the firefly had been flying. The spider silk retracted back into Duncan's abdomen, snapping off the twig from its branch, and sending it flying into Duncan's backside.

"AIYH!" Duncan yelped as the twig slammed into his back, knocking him down. He heard laughter from below- from both Courtney and Bunneh.

Courtney was holding a leg to her face, giggling gleefully at Duncan's unsuccessful bug catching attempts. "You know, you could always try making a web like a regular spider." She suggested.

Duncan rolled over onto his back, knocking the twig over, and shouted down at Courtney. "Oh yeah? Well, I'd like to see you try!"

Courtney crossed her front legs across her chest, turned away, and said, "Just because I've turned into a tarantula, doesn't mean I'm going to start eating like one!"

Up on the branch, Duncan shrugged at her response. "Suit yourself, sweet legs." He smirked and turned his back to her, commenting loudly, "Probably for the best since there's no way you'd be able to stomach it."

Courtney's eyes popped wide open as an expression of indignation spread across her face.

"WHAT?" she whirled around and shouted up at the tree. "Just because I don't want to eat a disgusting bug, doesn't mean I can't!"

The male tarantula chuckled. "Surrrrreee you can, Miss. I-Afraid-To-Eat-Squishy-Green-Jello."

"That's completely different!" Courtney argued. "I've eaten the same foul stuff Chef's just like you have!"

"Puh-lease!" Duncan scoffed, rolling his eyes. "You totally skipped out on the Brunch of Disgustingness from season one. If you'd made it that far, then you would have spazzed even worse than party boy during that vomit fest."

"I would have survived that challenge fine." said Courtney in a smug manner. "Even though I may not have a stomach of steel like Owen, I do have an unstoppable will of steel!"

"…You still can't eat a bug." Duncan retorted in a quiet voice, smirking.

"Yes I can!" snapped Courtney. "You just watch me!" she swiftly crawled over to the tree opposite of Duncan's and began to climb up the trunk in a speedy fashion, fueled by

her competitive nature. "I'll catch twice as many bugs as you and eat them three times as fast!"

Duncan happily accepted the challenge. "Bring it on!" he cried, confident that he'd be able to beat her. It was obvious that he was a ten times better tarantula than she would ever be. "You couldn't even catch a gnat!"

Courtney was putting the finishing touches on her spider web. "Just so you know, when my web is filled overflowing with delicious, creepy-crawly delicacies, you're not having a single bite!"

Duncan pulled out a long thread of silk and attached one end to the branch. "Who needs webs? I'm doing it extreme style!" he hung on to the other end of the silk thread and leaped off the branch, swinging across the air using the silk thread. As he swung, Duncan opened his mouth wide to catch any bugs that he swung past. "Aaaahhhhhh!"

"Oh, no you don't!" Courtney would not let Duncan beat her. She pulled out a long thread of silk and did the same thing.

From the ground, Bunneh watched in fascination as the spider couple swung like Tarzan and Jane back and forth from tree to tree using their silk thread, mouth opened wide and yelling as they tried to catch some bugs in their mouths.

Suddenly, both Duncan and Courtney were swinging towards the same bug at the same time. They noticed when it was too late.

"AAAAGGHHHHH!" screamed Courtney as she swung towards Duncan.

"AAAGGGHHH!" Duncan yelled as his silk thread sailed straight towards Courtney.

Bunneh squeezed his eyes shut and turned away, anticipating what was about to happen.

_**KA-BOOM!**_

The two tarantulas collided in midair, entangling themselves in a mess of sticky silk threads and sixteen tangled up spider legs.

"Well, will you look at this? It's like the paint-ball challenge all over again." Duncan dryly commented, trying to push two of Courtney's legs out of his face. "All that's missing are the fake antlers."

Courtney kicked one of her legs into the back of Duncan's head. "Stop taking a trip down memory lane and help me get out of here!" She struggled to free her front leg from the silk threads. Duncan was elbowed in the process.

"Ouch! Stop struggling! Let me!"

"Ow! That was my eye, you ogre!"

"You're making this more difficult than it is! Just let me move my leg a little ov…"

"Stop moving! You're making it worse!"

Bunneh hopped up below the suspended spider couple.

"Oh wow! That whole show was AWESOME!" the rabbit yelled, smiling up at his two buddies. "You two should totally pull that stunt off back at the show. But make it more hard core! Maybe put some explosives…a shark tank…ooh! How about a hot tub of boiling maple syrup?"

"Bunneh…." Courtney growled in low, threatening tones.

Bunneh quickly shut his mouth, taking note of the female's rage. He'd save his ideas for later. "Okay, I'll get you guys down." The little bunny narrowed his eyes and bend out his knees, sticking his tongue out as he put on an expression of deep concentration. "Now, you fellas hold still!"

Duncan eyed the rabbit curiously from his trappings. "Uhh, Bunneh? What are you…"

Before Duncan could finish his question, Bunneh let out a loud, vicious war cry and leaped up in the air. Once up, Bunneh gave the silk entanglement that Duncan and Courtney were trapped in a hard karate kick, yelling, "HI-YAH!" The kick sent the spider couple and their trappings spinning around in midair, tangling the two up even more.

Bunneh jumped up again and karate chopped it. "KA-POW!"

Duncan and Courtney let out muffled screams as they were spun around by Bunneh's futile assaults.

"Don't worry, I almost have out!" Bunneh reassured them. He jumped up a third time and gave the tangled mass of spider and silk another hard kick. "SHA-DO!"

Bunneh landed back on the ground with a proud expression on his face. "How's that?" he called up to Duncan and Courtney.

Bunneh's pathetic attempts at helping the couple get untangle only made the two tarantulas get tangled up in the silk threads worse. Now, there was nothing more than a large silk ball hanging by a single thread with two sets of eyes and a bunch of twitching legs poking out through the gaps. The two sets of eyes, one pair dark and the other blue, blinked down angrily at Bunneh.

"Do we really need to answer that?" a Duncan's voice angrily muffled through the constricting wall of silk thread.

"You know what we need to fix this?" Bunneh asked after tapping his head for a few seconds. "A SHARP CARROT! Carrots fix everything! I'll be right back!" Without another word, the rabbit hopped off and disappeared through the bushes, leaving Duncan and Courtney trapped and hanging.

The dark set of eyes narrowed and glared over at the blue set.

"I hope you know that this is all your fault!" Courtney grumbled in a muffled voice.

The blue set of eyes rolled in agitation. "My fault…it's always my fault! You're the one that ran into me!"

"That was my bug and you tried stealing it!"

"_Your_ bug? What do you mean _**your**_ bug! That was my dinner!"

"I saw it first!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Suddenly a deep, heavily accented voice spoke out, cutting short their argument.

"_Ni figa sebe_! What do we have here? A spider and his lady stuck in their own sticky trap. Hohoho, a bit too much rough and tumble in the web, _da_, if you know I mean. Haha."

Duncan and Courtney's grunts and movement grew silent as they froze and flicked their eyes back and forth, warily looking for the source of the loud voice.

"Who said that?" Courtney asked in a nervous voice.

The bushes behind the spider couple shook and a large, furry brown creature came stomping forward, shaking the ground with every giant pawstep. The tarantulas felt a dark shadow fall over them. They twisted their silk prison around and gasped in horror, eyes stretched out in fear. Standing over them was a giant brown bear.

The two teens redoubled their effort to free themselves, frantically struggling around, swinging their entangled prison back and forth as they tried to escape and flee from the monstrous creature before them.

The large brown bear frowned as he watched them struggled and leaned forward, sniffing his large black nose at the spider couple.

"Get away from us!" Courtney shrilly screamed. "Don't eat us!"

"Don't come any closer man!" Duncan warned, furiously glaring at the beast. "Stick that nose near us and the fangs are coming out! I'll do to you the same thing I did to that featherbag from last night!"

To both their surprise, the bear chuckle a rumbling good-natured chuckle at Duncan's words. In a Russian-accented voice, the bear spoke.

"I see your boyfriend is very protective of you, little _nayka_." The bear told Courtney with a big smile on his muzzle.

The poor creature was immediately bombarded with outcries of rage and indignation.

"He is not my boyfriend! I would never go out…"

"Protecting her? Pheesh! I could care less about what happens to…"

The bear held up his giant paws, gesturing for them to be silent. "Now, now, quiet down you two lovebugs. I can hardly hear a single word you're saying. Allow me to release you so that we can have a real conversation, _da_?"

Leaning forward, the bear drew out one long, sharp claw and gently sliced it over the silk threads surrounding Duncan and Courtney. The couple winced when the claws sliced over them, but immediately let out sighs of relief when the shredded threads fell to the ground. Duncan and Courtney fell as well, but were caught by the bear's wide, extended paw.

"Much better, _da_?" the bear said, grinning down at the two spiders. He gently placed the grateful arachnids on the ground before placing a paw to his furry chest and addressing them. "_Privet _comrades! Allow me to introduce my rugged self. I am known as Molotov!"

"Molotov?" Duncan's blue eyes lit up as he recognized the name. He pointed a front leg up at the towering bear. "I know you! You're that Russian circus bear that LeShawna beat at the log rolling challenge!"

"Ex-circus bear, _eto horosho_."' Molotov corrected, waving a claw at the delinquent. "And yes, I am one and the same." The circus bear suspiciously narrowed his dark, beady eyes and leaned his vast head down close to the two tarantulas. "But I am curious to know how you two _naykas_ know. Spiders do not watch television, _net_.

"Well, we're not spiders." Duncan said, gesturing towards himself. "We're humans! Old contestants from the show you were in. Remember? I'm Duncan, the guy with the green mohawk."

"You mean the _bratka _that got his _popka_ bitten off by turtles!"

"Exactly!" Duncan's smile turned into a confused frown. He gave the bear a weird look. "Wait…wha?"

"This idiot here," Courtney said in taunting tones, gesturing towards Duncan, "got himself changed into a tarantula by a greedy, diabolical former contestant who wanted to steal his million dollar prize."

Duncan and the Molotov glanced at each other, Duncan flashing the bear a laid back, devil-may-care smirk. The ex-circus gave a hearty laugh, giving the delinquent spider a pat on the back.

"Haha, well isn't that a bit of _tuffshitski_!" the bear seemed more impressed than worried by their situation.

"Then he changed me into one," Courtney continued, "And now we're on our way back to Camp Wananaka to get Chef's…" she was cut off by Molotov's thunderous voice.

"Halt, _Shishka_!" Molotov ordered, raising a paw for Courtney to stop talking. "You and _Bratka _are wanting to go to the old stinky campsite, _da_?"

Courtney quickly nodded, staring up at the giant bear with a slightly fearful expression on her spider face.

The bear lowered himself down on all fours and gave the spider couple on the ground a stern stare like a grandfather lecturing his grandkids. "You two are heading off in the wrong direction! Who's the _kretin _who told you to go this way?"

At that moment, Bunneh came leaping out of the bushes, beaming like a mad hare and pointing a finger at the carrot in his paw.

"I FOUND THE CARROT!"

Duncan and Courtney shot the rabbit frosty glares. Courtney folded her front legs over her chest, dark eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"Bunneh…" she was using her deadly tones again. "Molotov here is saying that you've been leading us in the wrong direction."

Bunneh's eyes flicked back and forth in panic for a second. Then he bit into the carrot and leaned against a tree trunk, adopting a careful free attitude.

"Come on! You believe this giant, stinky mass of fur and teeth more than your old show buddy, cute and cuddly, little old me?" Bunneh asked, spraying bits of chewed up carrot as he spoke.

"YES!"

Bunneh actually fell back in surprise at their immediate and loud answer.

"First rule of the forest, comrades," Molotov told the two teens, "Never take directions from a rabbit, especially a foul, disgusting little _krolik_ that even snakes, eagles, and sharks spit out after eating."

"I HEARD THAT!" Bunneh shouted, raising an indignant paw in the air. A loud, watery burp followed afterwards.

Molotov ignored the rabbit and gave a loud whistle that echoed throughout the forest. "Second rule of the forest," the bear said, as hundreds of tiny glowing fireflies began to light up the forest, "one is never lost when you have the right friends showing you the way."

Duncan, Courtney, and Bunneh each stared up at the beautiful sight, faces bathed in golden light by the hundreds of glowing insects.

"Wow…" Duncan breathed, awestruck by the wondrous, unbelievable sight. It was like a having stars pulled down from the night sky. How could he have ever even considered trying to eat one of these little guys?

The boy tarantula took a sideways glance over at Courtney and felt his heart skip a beat. Her head was tilted upwards with an expression of sincere wonder shining upon her mocha-colored face. Warm golden light outlined Courtney's delicate features, but was outshined completely by the smile on her face and the blissful twinkle in her four dark eyes as she gazed up the breathtaking sight above. Tarantula or not, Duncan could not think of creature more lovely at this moment.

"It's beautiful," Courtney said, eyes wide with wonder as a firefly floated over her head.

Molotov nodded in agreement, his head and gaze lifted heavenward. "_Da Shishka_. It is very beautiful, very_ krasivaya_, _da_. Don't you agree, _Bratka_?" the bear asked Duncan.

Still staring at Courtney, Duncan couldn't help but agree.

"Yeah…" he said as a small smile spread across his face, "totally _krasivaya_."

The tender moment was ruined by Bunneh's obnoxious voice.

"So are we heading out or what?" the rabbit impatiently asked. "We don't have all night!"

"The little _kretin_ is right." Molotov said. He gathered up Duncan and Courtney and placed the spider couple on top of his furry back. "Come! We must not fool away! The fireflies shall lead us in the right direction!"

"You know," Bunneh said as he hopped after the lumbering bear and the trail of floating fireflies. "I do know a short cut if you guys want to…"

"NO BUNNEH!"

* * *

**Yep, Molotov, the bear from the episode "No Pain, No Game" is taking the part of Ray for this story. I thought somebody would have guessed it because they both have different accents from the rest of the cast. For all those who are well knowledged in astrology, you might be able to guess who Evangeline is before the next real chapter. **

**I had a great time researching some Russian words and phrases that Molotov would say in the story. Here is a small glossary of the words used in this chapter:**

"_Ni figa sebe_!": a exclamation of surprise like "OMG!"

"_Da"_: Yes

"_Nayka"_:Spider

"_Privet":_ Hello

"_Bratka"_: Brother, friend, Bro

"_eto horosho"_: Thank you.

"_popka"_: Butt

"_tuffshitski"_: Big trouble

"_Shishka"_: Someone very important.

"_kretin"_: Idiot

"_krolik"_: Rabbit

"_krasivaya"_: Beautiful

**Forgive me if I got anything of the words wrong. I'm not Russian and all I have for sources is the internet. If you guys want, I can make another alternate/bonus chapter with the crew singing "Gonna Take You," from the movie, though it would be a short chapter since the song isn't very long and is very repetitive. **

**Anywho, hope you guys enjoyed the newest installment! Please read and review!**


	12. Good Spider Hunting

**Author's Note: Sorry for the wait. I'm into my last three weeks of high school and things are getting a little stressful with final projects and essays. However, still excited about graduation! WOOT! Ahem, back to the story.**

**Thank you all for the generous reviews I've received. Before we begin the newest chapter, here's some replies to some:**

**Ilikecheese123: Thank you so much for the Russian corrections. I hope my Russian in this chapter is a little better. Don't be afraid to tell me if I'm wrong cause I'm probably **

**CarmillaD: Jeez, it's going to take a while to reply to all your long First of all, yes, I will be using Ursa Major (big momma bear, lol). About the butterfly comment- not really important, I just pictured a butterfly by the broken window while typing up the scene; the Duncan/Justin comment- lol, so very true now that you mention it; Bridgette comment- I always thought her eyes looked a greenish-blue; Mall incident comment- Haha, all my stories tend to have references to each other at one part or another. I had to get them talking about food somehow.**

**As for whether or not I'm still using the name Evangeline, when I was watching the movie commentary, the directors stated that they named the evening star Evangeline after a Henry Longfellow poem that told a story about girl named Evangeline who searches for her lost love. For that reason, (and because I don't want to change the song) I'll be keeping the name "Evangeline" in the story.**

**Ribbonfly: You're right on spot with your guess about the North Star. I'm glad that you like it that Ezekiel is one of the people that believe Harold. I knew from the start that I wanted him and Izzy to be the ones Harold convinces first, especially since there are many funny scenes that I can think of involving those two. My twin sister did suggest Cody, but he's a techno-geek wouldn't believe anything as illogical as a human transforming into a spider while Ezekiel (who hasn't seen much of the real world) would be pretty gullible. **

**That's all the replies for now! Please enjoy the newest chapter!**

* * *

As Duncan and Courtney were being led by a swarm of twinkling fireflies, Heather was mixing herself into darker events. All the lights were out in her room; the grey-eyed girl was had lit up a couple of candles, each flame casting an eerie purple glow upon the room. Heather flicked her wrist, extinguishing the lighted match as the last purple candle was lit. She sat Indian-style on the floor and opened up the giant Voodoo spell book that had previously belonged to LeShawna and Gwen.

It was time to summon up the spirits.

It was a little early than planned, Heather admitted. She hadn't planned on summoning the spirits again until after she and Justin had gained the million dollars in order to change Justin and Duncan back to normal. However, thanks to her partner's stupidity and that delinquent's little escape with his girlfriend, Heather would have to make some quick adjustments to the diabolical plan. Justin had informed her of that geek, Harold's, attempts of convincing the rest of the cast about Heather's scheme.

Heather knew that the crazy girl and the homeschool boy had been convinced already, but that hadn't worried her. Nobody believed any of the nonsense Izzy blurted out and nobody even cared about what Ezekiel had to say. The night before, Heather had been confident that after hers and Justin's excellent performance feigning innocence, the rest of the teens would cast Harold's truthful story aside.

However, at dinner earlier, seeds of doubt had begun to take root.

Heather's grey eyes narrowed, glinting like cold steel in the flickering candlelight. It was Bridgette. The stupid blonde was meddling, she was sure of it! Heather's raven hair curled and bristled like a furious rattlesnake, sending dark thoughts into her already devious mind. Heather had seen Bridgette asking one of the managers for a card key to Courtney's room earlier that day. Now that she thought about it, Heather remembered that Bridgette had been the only one suspicious about the story she and Justin had come up to explain Courtney's sudden disappearance. Heather would never be able to figure out why the peace-loving girl was so fond of the rash and assertive Courtney.

"Why couldn't she just keep sucking lips with her idiot boyfriend?" Heather snarled. The one time Bridgette stopped making out long enough to allow oxygen to her brain, it had to be the time Heather was only a mere few hours away from a million dollars!

"Stupid blonde dimwit!" insulted Heather, hissing out the words that she usually saved for Lindsay. At dinner, the pesky surfer girl had been shooting Heather severe glares, the ones she usually just saved for Geoff when the idiot was doing something to annoy her.

Yes, it was clear Bridgette was on to them. Heather's calculating mind burned with what the next choice of action would be. Bridgette was different than Harold and those other two losers who knew the truth. Bridgette was pretty, friendly, smart, and generally well-liked when she wasn't sucking on Geoff's face. If Bridgette figured out the whole truth, she would easily be able to convince Gwen and LeShawna, who she was very close with, and then Geoff and then DJ, who was close with both Geoff and Duncan _and _had already seen the two tarantulas. If those guys started to believe Harold, then the rest would soon follow.

For the multiple time that day, puzzlement filled Heather. She had no idea how Courtney had been transformed into a tarantula as well as Duncan. Heather wondered if there was some sort of connection between the two that caused the identical reaction. Hate, perhaps? Definitely not love. Especially not true love, not that Heather believed very much in the concept.

On the shelf above her bed, five voodoo dolls snickered, button eyes glinting wickedly in the dim light. Heather's skin prickled with unease at their presence. It was a mystery to her why they were still here. Even stranger, there were now two new additions- a voodoo doll of Harold and Courtney were perched on the right side of Duncan's. Heather had no idea where they had come from and felt great discomfort at their presence, especially when it looked as if the Duncan voodoo doll was whispering secretive words to the others.

Heather shook away the uncomfortable paranoid feeling, and focused back to the task ahead. She flipped through the yellowed, faded pages until she reached the incantation needed. As the words slipped from her lips, the candle flames reared up, blazing with savage intensity. The spell book glowed a sickly green and sent a pillar of its light into the air. Heather stood up and stared, eyes wide, as the pillar of green light ascended upward, dissolving into itself until only a circular, gaping opening, radiating of greenish-yellow light. Two slanted orbs of red stared down at Heather through smoking, green portal.

Heather's courage faltered for a bit and she shrunk back from the fiery gaze. "Hehe," she weakly chuckled, and wriggled her fingers in greeting up at the spirit-filled portal, "Hello…spirit…voodoo things. I know I wasn't supposed to bother you guys again until after we have the award, but there's a _tiny _little problem."

The evil, red orbs narrowed in simmering anger.

Heather gulped. Her long black hair shivered and cowered around her neck as she struggled to explain. "You see, that idiot with the mohawk that we changed into a tarantula escaped and we need to get him back before the others find him first and reveal the plan. Do you think you can help me out?"

The glowing red eyes burned with furious flames as they gazed down at Heather in unrelenting silence.

Heather understood. "You want more of the reward!" she gasped in outrage. "But we're already giving you thirty percent of it!"

The spirits in the portal unleashed a low, threatening hiss, steam curling in the air in front of Heather's face. She flinched as the smell of sulfur reached her nostrils. Heather didn't have to be a voodoo queen to know that the friends on the other side were not very pleased.

"Okay, okay!" she submitted, grey eyes wide with fear. "Half! If you help me, I'll give you fifty percent of the reward!" A flicker of irritation bit through her at the proposal. If she gave these stupid spirits half of the money, then there would hardly be any left for her! She gave a snort- it didn't matter. She'd just have to take Justin's half of the money too.

On the shelf, the Duncan voodoo doll shifted his black button eyes to the voodoo dolls on either side of him. The Justin and Heather dolls on his left narrowed their beady eyes and gave frightening sneers. On the right, the Harold doll nodded his sand-filled head and the Courtney doll's wide mouth stretched into an evil grin.

The Duncan doll considered it for a second and then gave a pleased nod. The red orbs in the spirit portal grew round and started to glow. The voodoo dolls on the shelf unhinged their upper jaws; like dark vapors rising from a swamp, black shadows crawled from the dolls' interior, sliding across the floors and walls until they floated motionless against the wall's dimly lit surface, grinning evil snarls as they awaited instructions.

For a second, Heather could only stare in shock. Then she realized that they were waiting for _her _to speak and order them around. The dark haired teen felt a tingle of excitement and pleasure run through her at the thought of having these scary, powerful creatures under her control. With the grace and ferocious of a tigress, Heather strutted to the center of the room and began to back orders at the shadow spirits.

"Go and find that stupid tarantula!" Heather demanded, her long hair waving as she pointed a finger up to the sky. "Search everywhere until you bring that loser back!" She glared at the shadows. "Well? What you creeps waiting for? GO! NOW!"

The shadows needed no more encouragement. The vile beings of shadow scattered away like leaves in the wind, swiftly gliding across any surface bathed in darkness. They spread across the hotel, making every cast mate they cross shiver and suddenly feel very frightened. The evil spirits exited the hotel and headed straight towards forest where Duncan and Courtney could surely be found.

The moment Heather's dark servants left, Heather looked around the now isolated room and felt herself shiver. Despite her overwhelming greed and ambition for the million dollars, Heather couldn't get of the feeling that, perhaps the hole she was digging was becoming a little too deep. Half of the reward money was already gone, down in the spirit drain, and nothing so far had gone according to the original plan.

_What if_, a tiny voice in Heather's head pondered, _this plan has gone too far?_

Heather shook away the uncomfortable feeling and annoying voice of conscience, with a toss of her beautiful head. No, the plan will work! She just needed to focus!"

"The plan will work, tarantula or no tarantula." Heather hissed out loud, grey eyes narrowed into cat-like slits, reflecting the blind ambition flowing through her veins. "I'll make sure of it!"

* * *

"Good-bye! Thanks for the help!"

"Catch ya later, fire butts!"

"Later little guys! No hard feelings for trying to eat you, okay?"

"_Schastlivogo puti_! _Do novyh vstrech_! Farewell!"

The tarantula couple, bunny, and Russian bear stood at the edge of a cluster of trees, waving good-bye to the swarm of fireflies that kindly lit the group's way through the night-dark forest. Though they were still a good distance from Camp Wawanakwa, Molotov assured Duncan and Courtney that he could be able to lead them the rest of the way. Bunneh, of course, had greatly protested.

"I know this forest like the back of my paw!" the rabbit grumbled sourly as he hopped along Molotov's giant paws. "I could get us to camp faster than it takes for old Molo-toe to say "Hello" in American!"

"My language, you little _dorak_, is Russian!"

"And American isn't even a real language, Bunneh." Courtney testily corrected. The gentle brown bear had graciously allowed the two tarantulas to ride on his broad back as they trekked onward through the forest. "Both Americans and us Canadians use English…and French."

"_Oui, oui_!" Duncan spoke grinning. Courtney was taken by surprise by Duncan's show of being fluent in French and shot him a perplexed stare.

"Relax," said Duncan, amused by the bewildered expression on her face, "it's the only French word I know. I'm from Markham, Ontario, not Quebec!" The male, green-mohawked tarantula focused his attention onto Bunneh. "Lay off the bear, dude. Face it, the real reason you couldn't get back DJ is because after those predators spit you out, you couldn't find the camp again."

"They did not _**spit**_ me out! I _**fought**_ my way out!"

"Whatever," Duncan muttered, obviously not convinced. "Point is, we'll get there quicker following Molotov, and if we get to Camp sucks-a-lot quicker, then we'll get to the city quicker, and you'll be with DJ quicker. Got it?"

Bunneh shot Duncan a mutinous glare, but in the end, rolled his over-sized eyes and muttered an agreement. It was clear that the bunny had a serious problem with idea of having to share his new-found friends with some oversized tub of fur.

"The quicker you three get back to where you belong," Molotov said in a deep, rumbling voice, "the quicker I can get back to my dearest Evangeline."

The pretty, elegant name and deep affection tumbling from the bear's voice, immediately caught Courtney's attention. Despite being undoubtedly assertive, commanding, loud, calculating, uptight, bossy, and, ultimately, aggressive in nature, Courtney was still a girl and every girl, in their deepest of hearts, was a romantic by nature.

"Is Evangeline your girlfriend?" Courtney coyly asked, smiling as she crawled to the top of Molotov's head to converse with him.

The Russian bear unleashed a sigh of pure bliss. "_Da, Shishka_. Evangeline is the companion of my heart, the most beautiful bear to ever grace this earth_, _my guiding light through the darkness of life. My dearest angel may not speak much, but she and I need no words. When it comes to love, what is in your heart is the only thing that matters."

Courtney was almost moved to tears by Molotov endearing, heart-felt words. "That's so beautiful." She breathed. Behind her, seated in the center of Molotov's furry back, Duncan unleashed a loud gag of disgust. Fury flared through Courtney like fire at Duncan's rudeness and lack of sensitivity.

"At least there are some men that know how to treat a woman decently!" Courtney stated in a loud voice, shooting Duncan a burning glare. "Men that act like they care and appreciate their girlfriends!"

Duncan stopped his immature gagging fit to snap his head towards Courtney. The female spider had already turned her back toward Duncan. The spider delinquent scowled. If Courtney thought that he was going to start acting as love-sick as Harold and Molotov, spurting out mushy, nauseating romantic crap, then she could go check herself into the nearest mental institute. It wasn't going to happen.

"You know, Molotov," Duncan said in an equally loud voice so that Courtney could hear, "I wouldn't settle down so quickly. Trust me, there are plenty of other bears in the forest, ones that just might be a little less uptight, less bossy," his voice rose a volume or two as he growled, "ones that actually knows how to have _**fun**_!"

"What did you say?!" Courtney snapped, whirling around. She stood up on all eight legs and scurried down from Molotov's head towards Duncan. "I do so know how to have fun!"

Duncan turned towards her with a care-free smirk. "Oh, I didn't know that snapping people's heads off and nagging them to death was considered fun."

"If people like you would actually do things right, then there would be no reason for me to nag them!"

Molotov's body shook as he chuckled. "You two bicker like an old married couple, _da_."

"WE DO NOT!" the tarantula couple replied in outraged tones before beginning to argue again.

Bunneh elbowed one of the large bear's paws and murmured over the teens' angry voices. "Uhh, perhaps we should sneak away for a bit? Maybe get some grub?"

Molotov nodded, "Let the lovebugs argue it out. How's wild blueberries sound?"

Oblivious to anything but themselves, Duncan and Courtney didn't notice at all when Molotov scooped the two off his back and gently set them on the ground before lumbering off a short distance away with Bunneh to hunt along the blueberry bushes.

However, while the Duncan and Courtney argued, Molotov and Bunneh feasted, none of them noticed that they were not the only ones creeping around the forest that night.

"_Dear Diary,"_ a large, heavily muscled man with a hockey mask on and a hook for a right hand wrote in a small red book, sitting in the middle of the forest floor, "_it has been several weeks since I have escaped from the maximum security prison, Millhaven Institute for killing a bunch of people though they like, totally deserved it for making fun of my hockey mask, which is awesome. During that time, I have been dodging the Mounties who are still hot on my trail and have found myself on this horrible, deserted island. I found out that the island was actually part of the a television show called Total Drama Island. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to try and murder one of the contestants on national television. My bad."_

The psycho killer paused from writing to tenderly rub his large, red nose. Even weeks after the Total Drama Island episode where he dropped in on the campers had aired, his nose still hurt from where that Goth girl had kicked him. Jeez, couldn't she have at least waited until he had stabbed her once? He hadn't even done anything to her yet! It was so unfair! At least in prison, the other inmates had been fair!

Killer, as the escaped psycho was content in being called, continued to write in his tiny diary, speaking out loud as he wrote.

"_Despite being continuously being hunted down by the Force, there is one silver lining. In this lonesome, bleak wilderness, I have found myself a companion who understands my hardships. His name is Mr. Coconut."_

Killer once again paused from writing and glanced over his so called companion, flashing his friend an endearing smile. His "friend" was really the coconut that Owen had befriended in his delusional state during season one and that Chef had chopped up in the following episode. Killer had apparently found the coconut, taped it back up, and, being as insane as Owen, christened the inanimate object his new companion. Wawanakna Island will do that to a person.

"_I am fortunate that Mr. Coconut does not eat a lot," _Killer wrote, _"For I have long run out of supplies and have had to live off the land as a fugitive. Since none of my traps have been successful in actually catching anything, I have been reduced to foraging for roots and grub….particularly the grub part."_

As Killer set his pen and diary down, his massive stomach let out a loud rumble. He unleashed a depressed sigh.

"Oh, Mr. Coconut, I just don't know what to do." Killer said addressing his fruity friend. "I've eaten nothing but earthworms and beetles for a week now. If I don't eat anything that doesn't have a little more meat to it, the two of us are goners."

"…………" Mr. Coconut stood motionless and silent.

Killer perked up. "What was that? Did you just say that you hear something, Mr. Coconut?"

"…………"

Taking his friend's silence as a yes, Killer stood up and peered through the bushes. To his surprise, the psycho killer said two large, hairy tarantulas crawling around on the ground in front of the bushes that he was hiding behind. Not that much more meat on them than his usual grub, but beggars can't be choosers.

"Jeez, Mr. Coconut," he whispered, holding the coconut up so that it could see. "I had no idea that tarantulas were native to Canada. Do you think they're edible?"

"…….."

"Really?" Behind his hockey mask, Killer's blue eyes shone with awe and respect towards the coconut. "Tarantulas taste good fried, you say? They do eat them? Wow, it pays to have a cultured friend like you, Mr. Coconut. Come on! Let's go catch us some fried spider!" The psycho killer and coconut quickly ducked back into the bushes.

"Lazy, immature ogre!"

"Uptight, bossy spoiled brat!"

"Horrible, revolting criminal!"

"Boring, snotty stick-in-the-mud!"

Courtney stomped two of her eight legs down on the ground and seethed. She angrily shut her eyes and turned her back towards Duncan, front legs crossed. "Ohh, go get caught in a net!" she snapped.

Ironically, a net swept out of nowhere and caught Duncan.

Courtney heard Duncan let out a surprised yell, turned around, and let out a gasp of fright. Stand there with a butterfly net in his left hand was a large, terrifying man with a hockey mask covering his face and a large, deadly looking hook attacked to where his right hand should have been. Courtney immediately recognized the man as the real psycho killer that had almost killed Gwen during season one of the show.

With his hook, Killer pulled Mr. Coconut from behind his back. "Go forth and capture the other one, Mr. Coconut!" With that, he tossed the coconut at Courtney.

With a gasp of fright, Courtney crawled off as Mr. Coconut bounced off after her into the woods.

Meanwhile, a few feet away, Bunneh and Molotov where filling their bellies with blueberries. At hearing the sound of voices, Bunneh, mouth area stained blue from the berry juice, paused from popping berries into his open mouth and stood up to look around. The cute, grey rabbit instantly caught sight of the psycho killer….particularly the hook hand.

Bunneh unleashed an embarrassingly high-pitched scream of terror. The rabbit obviously still remembered the scary story Duncan had repeated to his fellow campers during the beginning of season one. "HOOK MAN!" Bunneh gave a frightened squeal and hopped right into a bunch of bushes…not noticing that they were filled with pricker plants.

"yyyyyeeeOOOWWWHHHH!!!"

Bunneh's wail of agony caught Molotov's attention. The old brown bear lazily stood up on his hind legs, still with a blueberry branch in his paw and in the process of chewing some berries. Like Bunneh, he quickly noticed the psycho killer walking away from the clearing. However, it was not the hook hand that Molotov was worried about.

"He has _Bratka_!" Molotov growled, black eyes wide as he saw the mohawked tarantula struggling in the butterfly net being held by the massive, hockey-masking wearing man. Pure and burning outrage coursed through the brown bear at the sight. His dark eyes narrowed into a dangerous slits and his lips curled back into the most furious of snarls. With a savage growl, he charged forward.

"UNHAND HIM, YOU _**MUDAK**_!" The mighty bear roared, shaking the ground as he charged at the psycho killer. Molotov also roared many other coarse, vulgar words in his native tongue that would have even made Duncan wince if he could have understood them.

At the sight of the charging angry bear, Killer started to panic. Choking out a strangled scream, the burly man threw the net containing Duncan up in the air and fled for his life as Molotov chased after him. The butterfly net got caught by a tree branch hanging overhead.

Meanwhile, Courtney was being pursued by the bouncing Mr. Coconut. During the chase, however, the female tarantula skidded to a complete halt.

"Wait, why the hell am I running away from a coconut!?" Courtney asked out loud, annoyed at herself for being frightened by such a ridiculous and harmless item. "It's just a coconut! It can't hurt me even if I am just a tarantula!" She began to turn around, "I have to go back and help Duncan escape from the…"

_**POW!**_

Courtney let out an "oof" of pain and surprise when Mr. Coconut slammed into her and sent her flying through the air. She slammed into a tree trunk and fell into the opening of one of the unsuccessful trap cages that Killer had laid out throughout the area. Mr. Coconut bounced along the ground and landed on top of the cage opening, successfully trapping Courtney in.

Through the cage's thin metal bars, Courtney could only blink her large, dark eyes in astonished confusion trying to grasp what had just happened.

"Have I…" Courtney asked, voice thick with disbelief, "…have I just been outsmarted by a freaking _**coconut**_?!"

"……….."

Mr. Coconut's silence had never sounded so smug.

Not far away, Killer was still being hunted down by the enraged Molotov. The psycho killer sprang into the dense woods and hid in some bushes. Molotov rushed past, oblivious to Killer's hiding spot. Once the bear was out of sight, Killer got up and rushed in the opposite direction where he soon found Courtney and Mr. Coconut.

"At least you caught something." Killer grumbled, grabbing the cage holding Courtney captive and placing Mr. Coconut on his shoulder. The mass-murdering giant turn to lumber back into the woods, whistling a pleasant tune.

Up in the tree branch, Duncan had successfully gotten himself free of the butterfly net and was gleefully celebrating.

"HA! Take that you stupid, psycho loser!" Duncan gloated down at the psycho killer. He turned around and shook his big, hairy spider butt at the man, immaturely crowing, "You ain't getting a bite of this anytime soon, you giant hook-handed freak! Hahah!"

Duncan took a second to glance back down and let out a surprised gasp at the sight of Courtney being held captive. Courtney looked up and caught his gaze; her expression was one of fear.

"Ah, crap!" Duncan frantically looked around, trying to figure out what to do. He came up with zero plans. Damn it. "Well, when all else fails…" Duncan muttered before squeezing his four eyes shut and leaping off the branch.

He landed right on top of the killer's head.

Killer stopped walking and glanced over at the coconut perched on his shoulder.

"Mr. Coconut, why are you staring at me like that?"

"………….."

While Mr. Coconut said his silent reply, Duncan slowly crawled down the killer's large forehead. Courtney raised her head and saw her companion. Her jaw fell open in shock. Had Duncan really come back for her? Courtney scampered to the side of the cage to get a closer look, her front legs gripping the bars tightly. Duncan brought a front leg to his lips and gestured for her to remain silent. For once, Courtney listened to him.

"Come on, Mr. Coconut! Stop your staring! You're starting to make me uncomfortable."

Suddenly two spidery legs reached into the eye-holes of the hockey mask and roughly jabbed the psycho killer in the eyes. Killer reared back, holding his hand and hook over his stinging eye and howling in pain. Courtney's cage immediately fell to the ground and Mr. Coconut was sent flying from Kiler's shoulder. The coconut hit a tree, bounced back toward Killer's head. Duncan saw it coming and neatly leaped into the air to let it sail under him. The coconut slammed into another tree and painfully ricocheted into the back of Killer's head.

"AAGGGHH! MY HEAD!" the psycho killer yelled, placing a hand on the back of his head. He didn't get long to recover as the coconut repeated the cycle once again.

_**CRACK!**_

It hit a tree….

_**SWISH!**_

It missed Duncan as the tarantula jumped into the air, grinning with wickedly…

_**CRACK!**_

Mr. Coconut hit another tree….

_**KA-POW!**_

…and then nailed the psycho killer again.

And then it repeated the painful cycle a couple more times.

_**CRACK! SWISH! CRACK! KA-POW!**_

As she watched, now escaped from the cage, Courtney had to press a leg against her mouth to hide the growing grin and giggles threatening to be unleashed. Despite her lofty attitude, Courtney could not help but feel pleasantly amused at the sight of Duncan, despite his tiny size, easily outwitting the massive, oafish brute.

Killer finally managed to dodge the juggernaut coconut. Crossed eyed, the psycho killer was able to see the strange, green-mohawked tarantula now clinging to his forehead. With crooked, yellow teeth clenched in a growl, Killer raised his hook hand to stab down at Duncan.

Courtney saw it coming and let out a horrified gasp. Thinking quickly, she spun out some silk thread and, tying it into a lasso, let it fly; it wrapped around Duncan's waist. As the deadly hook was coming down, Courtney yanked the thread and pulled Duncan out of harm's way.

The same could not be said for Killer.

"OWWWWW!!" Killer yelped and hollered in pain as he stabbed himself in the head with his own hook. On the ground, standing next to the still Mr. Coconut, the tarantula couple watched, eyes bright with amusement, as the gigantic man jump up and down, shrieking in pain. Duncan and Courtney could almost feel sorry for the dim-witted killer…almost, but not quite.

Duncan leaned over and nudged Courtney. "Watch this!" he whispered. The mischievous delinquent turned around and wagged his hairy, tarantula butt up at the killer.

Killer looked down, with face scrunched up with enragement, and aimed a kick at the two spiders. Duncan and Courtney jumped out of the way, and the psycho killer kicked Mr. Coconut instead. The coconut sailed into a tree and rebounded back into Killer's stomach. The unfortunate murderer keeled over, holding his gut and gasping for breath.

Courtney and Duncan had crawled a couple feet up the trunk of a nearby tree.

"Cute," Courtney remarked in a lofty tone, dark eyes sparkling, "But incredibly immature." She teasingly shoved Duncan aside, determined not to be outshined. "Let me show you how it's done." Courtney hoisted her abdomen up and shot jets of spider silk at Killer's face, completely covering it like silly string.

"I CAN'T SEE!" Killer said, his voice muffled by the silk threads covering his entire face. He blindly ran face first into a tree.

"Impressive." Duncan admittedly chuckled. "But I can do better!"

For next couple of minutes, both Duncan and Courtney continued to harass the poor psychopath; jumping and crawling all over the place, they taunted Killer while the idiot continued to self-injury himself (with the help of his faithful coconut companion) until, at last, he collapsed onto the ground. He was bruised, had large lumps swelling everywhere, scratched up, exhausted, and was basically moaning in agony. The two tarantulas watched from a branch up above, looking quite pleased with them selves.

Killer squinted open one swollen eye and glanced over at Mr. Coconut. "Those two bugs ain't like anything I've ever seen." He gasped to the fruit, spitting out a broken tooth. "Them smart!"

At that moment, both Duncan and Courtney dropped down to the ground in front of Killer, smirking.

"Excuse me," Courtney smugly remarked, "But I do believe that the correct term would be 'arachnids'."

For a second, the psycho killer only stared at the two tarantulas, eyes wide with mind-numbing shock. Then, in a flash, the hook-man was up on his feet, all pain forgotten. He grabbed Mr. Coconut and dashed off into the forest, running as fast as humanly possible. The murdering criminal screamed his head off as he ran in blind terror, not really caring if anyone heard him.

"I'LL TAKE MOUNTIES OVER TALKING SPIDERS ANY DAY!"

When the last of the echoing screams faded away in the distance, Duncan and Courtney silently looked at one another, blue and black eyes locked in an unwavering stare. Then, without warning, the couple convulsed into a fit of helpless laughter.

"Hahaha! Did you see his face when you talked to him? Haha!" laughed Duncan, rolling on the ground with glee.

Courtney's brown, delicate body shook with infectious giggles. "He…he…looked like Chef after that time you kissed him! Hahahaha!"

"Hahaha....you…haha…back there…." Duncan spluttered, trying to get the words out between chuckles. "You did mean to say 'reptiles' right? Not arachnids, haha. Cause...haha…tarantulas are reptiles, right?"

Courtney instantly stopped laughing and gave Duncan a long, searching stare, looking as if she was about to say a scathing remark. The hilarious look on Duncan's face and the puzzled tilt of his head, however, melted the stinginess in her words. At last, she couldn't take it anymore and unleashed the largest laugh yet, letting the joyful sound ring loud and clear throughout the peaceful night.

"So…" Duncan quietly asked, "Tarantulas _**aren't**_ reptiles, then?"

**I have to tell you, the frog hunter scene was probably the hardest scene I've had to adapt to this story. I've gone through several different ideas for how to pull this scene off. First, I thought I would replay the frog hunters from the movie with a father trying to take his nerdy son (who collects rare insects) out hunting for the first time. Then I had the idea of having a group of hunters going after Molotov and having Duncan and Courtney try to save him. Then there was the idea of having a group of bug collectors go out. However, none of the ideas seemed to work out or make much sense, plus, I really wanted to keep the cast restricted to characters that Total Drama fans would know. Thus came the idea of the having the psycho killer being the one to play the frog hunter role since none of us really know what happens to him and, since he's a fugitive, I guess he's still on the island, hiding from the police. Oh, and you can eat tarantulas. They're actually a delicacy in some South American countries.**

**Yeah, Mr. Coconut was literally a last minute idea. I didn't want the psycho killer to be alone and didn't want to think of any new characters. So I just jumped the shark and pulled a "Volleyball Wilson." Mr. Coconut deserved more screen time **

**And yes, Duncan still believes that tarantulas are reptiles. Cause nobody ever calls Scruffy the tarantula a bug…..EVER.**

**Here's another glossary of some Russian words Molotov uses in the chapter:**

_**Mudak**_**: Asshole**

_**Schastlivogo puti**_**: Have a safe journey**

_**Do novyh vstrech**_**: Till we meet again**

_**Dorak**_**: Idiot**

**Until the next chapter, please read and review!**


	13. Dancing Under Evangeline

**Author's Note: Well, have weeks of final projects, finals, mailing invitations, parties, and rehearsals, I am proud to announce that I am now a graduate of the Class of 2010! YAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY! NO MORE HIGH SCHOOL BABY! YES! Not only that, but I graduated with the rank of 6****th**** in the entire graduating class. I even got the English and writing reward from the school. **

**Okay, not that my ego-pushing is done, we can get back to the story. I apologize for the long wait for an update, but the weeks leading up to graduate are pretty busy. However, now that school is over with, I can get back to schedule again. Though from June 1****st**** to about the 13****th****, I will be taking my senior trip to Europe so no update then. I do apologize for that.**

**Regardless, thank you guys so much for all the great reviews! Thank to you, this story has reached over a hundred reviews! Here are some reviews to some:**

**Kraven the Hunter: Let's just say the Heather's idea of the reward that the spirits want is quite different from what they intend on getting. It's safe to say that you're quite right about Heather being even further over head than she could ever believe.**

**CarmillaD: There's no need for apology! To be honest, I love reading your long reviews! Lol, it just takes a while to write a decent reply to answer all of it.**

**ChipmunkFanatic: Sigh, I do wish I could have found a place for Justin in there. He's so much fun to write and torture. I'm extremely happy that you thought that adaption went well. Like I said at end of the chapter, it was quite a hard scene to adapt to, especially without making up some new characters. Your review was really sweet and, I'm shameless to say, was quite an ego booster.**

**Anywho, hope you guys enjoy the latest chapter! Only a couple more left!**

* * *

It took a full two minutes for Courtney to stop laughing at Duncan's false belief of tarantulas being reptiles. Duncan tried to scowl and act angry during her mirthful fit but her bubbly laughter was infectious. The delinquent found himself chuckling along with her, blushing and looking a bit embarrassed as he did so. Even if Courtney was laughing at the expense of his dignity, Duncan was secretly pleased; it had been ages since Duncan had heard Courtney laugh like that- laugh as if she meant it, as if she was really having fun. The last time Duncan heard her giggle like that was the day after they had stolen food from Chris and Chef and kissed for the first time.

A large portion of Duncan's dignity returned at the thought.

"Okay, okay, I get it. We're bugs…"

"Arachnids." Courtney corrected with a giggle.

"Fine, arachnids, not reptiles. You win." Duncan huffed, dusting his chest off. "Let's drop it."

Courtney climbed to her feet and crawled over to him, smiling deviously and lightly shaking her head. "Oh no, mister. First you need to take back everything you said about me earlier."

"Take what back?" He questioned, gazing at her through slightly narrowed blue eyes.

The female tarantula poked a front leg repeatedly into Duncan's chest, emphasizing on each word. "All that stuff about me being uptight, bossy, know-it-all that doesn't know how to have fun. Ring a bell?"

"Now, I never said that you were a know-it-all." Duncan pointed out.

Courtney playful glared. "You're thinking it right now."

"Touché." Duncan laughed, holding his front legs up in defeat. He continued in a low voice. "Alright, you are kind of…"

"Excuse me, I can't hear you." Courtney jokingly held a leg by where her ears should be, gesturing him to be louder.

"…FUN." Duncan finished loudly. In teasing tones, he added, "You know, when you're not being as _**uptight**_ and acting quite as _**bossy**_ as you usually are, which, I can imagine, is quite hard for you. But don't worry. I've been known to work miracles." Duncan huffed out a chuckle when Courtney punched him in the leg.

The two stopped playfully bickering and giggling as Molotov lumbered over to them. The great brown, shaggy bear stopped two pawsteps away from the couple. He stared down at the tiny spiders, round black eyes blinked in pleasant astonishment.

"You two are well." He happily observed. The bear swung his large, furry head left to right. "Where did that horrible _mudak_ and his fruit run off to?"

"Relax, we scared him off." Courtney proudly proclaimed, sharing a gaze with Duncan.

Molotov did not miss the shared look between the two. The great bear slowly gazed at both Duncan and Courtney and said, "So I see, _Shishka_. So I see." He sounded very pleased by the turn of events.

"Yeah," Duncan said, shrinking back. He was slightly unnerved by the vigilant stare Molotov was giving him and Courtney. "If we're lucky that idiot will run into my dad or some other Mounty around here. The guy can't be hard to miss, screaming like a girl like that."

Courtney was the first of the two to notice something amiss. "Where's Bunneh at?" she asked, taking a quick look around, searching for a sign of their foul-mouthed, cute-eyed companion. Despite his small size, Bunneh's absence was not easy to miss- the silence was a tell-tale sign.

"Do not worry, I have our favorite_** dorak**_." Molotov's black, beady eyes twinkled with devious delight. The Russian bear stood up on his hind legs and pulled something from behind his back to show the tarantula couple.

Duncan and Courtney choked trying to hold back laughter.

"How can you two laugh when I'm on the brink of dying?" Bunneh pitifully wailed, hanging from Molotov's firm claw. "Oh, the pain! The agony!"

Though Bunneh was exaggerating quite a bit on the dying part, Duncan and Courtney could tell that he was in quite a bit of pain, which was understandable when one was covered from ear-point to cotton-tail with sharp, round prickles. When the killer had been spotted, Bunneh had unknowingly jumped in and hid in a bush full of them. The poor rabbit looked more like a long-eared hedgehog than a bunny right now.

"We're not laughing." Duncan lied, grinning like an idiot.

"Some friends you guys are!" Bunneh whined, glaring at Duncan's smiling face. "Spiders and bears are such treacherous creatures! I shall die here a fallen star! Never to grace the world of television again!"

"Such a shame." Courtney added nonchalantly.

Molotov gave his large head an irritated shake. "Enough nonsense! You are no more dying than us three are! For goodness sake, their just prickles not poisoned barbs! Just pull them out!" Molotov grabbed a prickle stuck to Bunneh's rear in with his free claw and yanked it free.

"OOWWWW!" Bunneh yelped in agony, rolling his eyes towards Molotov. "That hurt!"

Molotov pulled another one, this time from Bunneh's ear.

"OW! That one did too!"

The brown bear paused and scanned the amount of damage. Molotov looked down at Duncan and Courtney and said in apologetic tones, "I'm afraid this might take awhile, little ones. I know you are in a hurry, but we can not have the _**dorak**_ complaining the entire way."

"I suppose we could eat something while we wait." Duncan suggested.

"Eat what, exactly?" Courtney curtly pointed out. "Neither of us are any good at bug catching obviously." The female tarantula spoke the truth. The last attempt she and Duncan made at catching bugs like regular spiders ended with both of them getting tangled up in their own webs and looking more like a piñata of silk.

Suddenly a large, grey fish fell between the couple, landing on the ground with loud, wet _'plop'_!

Molotov stood over them, muzzle wet and grinning. Neither of them had noticed the bear silently move to the stream and back again. "How about trout?"

Duncan stared at the dead, reeking fish with hungry disbelief while Courtney looked up at the bear and said, smiling, "That would… be quite nice actually."

Molotov graciously dipped his head to them and resumed pulling prickles from Bunneh's fur as the small mammal continued to yelp with every yank.

Of course, the fish needed to be cooked. Even if Duncan and Courtney were animals at the moment, didn't mean they were actually going to eat raw fish. For some odd reason, the thought of eating raw bugs hadn't disgusted Duncan or even Courtney, despite the way she acted at the very idea. But bugs were natural tarantula food. Fish wasn't.

Duncan gave a loud yawn and plopped himself down on a comfy bed of leaves. "Tell me when dinner's done, will ya sweetlegs?"

"I don't think so." Courtney threw a fallen blueberry at Duncan's head. It splattered into a gooey, purple mess all over the side of the tarantula's face.

"HEY!" yelped Duncan, attempting to wipe the purple mess off. "What was that for?"

"If you want to eat, then you have to help cook! Start de-boning that fish while I get the fire started." Courtney ordered.

"Why can't I get the fire started?" he complained, slowly rising from his leafy bed. "After all," he reminded, "I _did_ win the fire making challenge, remember?"

His comment made Courtney pause and turn. "Oh, I'm sorry." She said in a sickly sweet voice. "I completely forgot about that. Tell me, do you have a lighter hidden away behind one of your eight legs?" She let the well-aimed jab sink in for a moment before returning her voice to a cold, crisp tone. "Yeah, I totally remember."

Courtney turned around, heading off to start collecting some twigs and leaves for fire fuel; she tossed a blueberry at Duncan over her shoulder. "Getting stuffing, Neanderthal."

Duncan gave an indignant snort at Courtney's mentioning of his little cheating episode at the cavemen challenge. She hadn't been complaining when he used his lighter to help their team win the bonfire challenge back in season one! Of course, their team had lost that challenge, but only because Izzy on the other team was a crazy fugitive.

Still grumbling quiet complaints, Duncan made his way over to the dead trout until he was standing over it sealed mouth. Slowly, he began the task of prying the jaws open; his grabbing hold of the bottom jaw with one front leg and the top jaw with the other, Duncan pulled and tugged, trying to pull them apart, His spider muscles sprained and he grunted with exertion until the trout's mouth split open. Duncan exhaled an exhausted sigh before continuing the messy assignment.

A few feet away, Courtney had collected a successful among of broken twigs and leaves that, she believed, was enough fuel for a decent cooking fire. While she slammed two pebbles together, trying to create enough friction to produce a spark, Courtney watched Duncan out of the corner of her eye. Her delinquent companion had half his body hidden from view; Duncan had his head and the upper portion of his body squirming inside the gaping jaws of the fish, trying to locate the fish bones through the pink inner flesh.

Courtney almost felt the urge to laugh at the sight of Duncan's large tarantula butt sticking out of the fish's mouth, waving in the air like a dog wagging its tail, but the scene reminded her too painfully much of what had happened yesterday night. It was too easy to imagine that dead trout seeming a hundred times larger, with grey scales and triangle fins piercing the night sky; too easy to see that open mouth filled with rows of ragged teeth with Duncan in between them.

Courtney suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

"_I wasn't really going to let the shark eat him."_ Courtney reasoned with herself, recalling her earlier actions of withholding the vine and Duncan's safety until he had promised her half of his reward money. _"I knew he would crack before it was too late."_

The guilt still felt heavy and bitter on her tongue.

After the excitement with the psycho killer, the forest maintained an atmosphere of peace. Even Bunneh's painful yelps had been reducing to a brooding, suffering silence. The only sounds Courtney heard were the chirps of crickets, the evening chorus of frogs, and occasion hoot of a far-off owl. Even Duncan was quiet as worked.

With no spark igniting as of yet for a cooking fire, Courtney felt a desperate desire for conversation, if anything, to keep Duncan's mind away from seeing her fail.

"So why are you afraid of Celine Dion?" she asked Duncan. It the first thought that came to her head, and, quite frankly, it was the one thing that Courtney was most curious about Duncan.

The upper half of Duncan's body popped of the fish's jaws. Duncan looked over Courtney with an expression quite similar to that of a person being slapped in the face with a dead parrot. Courtney wasn't sure whether or not he was more surprised by the question or by the fact it was her asking it.

His one eyebrow wrinkled in slight annoyance. "For the last time, it's not Celine Dion I'm scared of," he said, "It's her music store standees."

_Not this again._ "Well, why are you scared of her standees?"

"Why are you afraid of green jell-o?" Duncan countered.

"None of your business, that's why!" Courtney snapped her mouth shut, realizing that Duncan had just cornered her. "Okay, forget it," she sighed, knowing that Duncan didn't want to talk about his irrational phobia, "but can I asked you another thing?"

"What?" he slowly questioned.

"Who ever told you that tarantulas were reptiles?"

Duncan looked very surprised by the question, blue eyes wide and staring at her as if she had just grown an extra eight legs. He was so silent for so long that Courtney was sure that he was just going to ignore the question.

"My older brothers." Duncan finally said. His voice was thoughtful and its tone grew warmer as he spoke as if he were recalling older, happier times. "Malcolm and Derek. Malcolm was the oldest-eleven years older than me while Derek's only nine. They're the ones that bought me Scruffy in the first place. I think I was upset about only having a bug as pet- I had wanted a dog to replace Petey and bugs just didn't seem like good pets- but they told me that tarantulas and spiders weren't bugs, but were really eight-legged reptiles. Little kids never got reptiles for pets so I thought it was pretty cool after that."

"You must have really been close to your brothers." Courtney commented. He had mentioned them quite a bit during the course of the two seasons.

Duncan nodded, smiling. Even as he started working on preparing the fish again, he kept on talking, happy to be speaking on such a close, familiar topic.

"Well duh, my brothers and I did everything together! I learned very I know from them, particularly Derek, though I'm much better with the ladies than he will ever dream of being. Malcolm was more the goody-good, responsible one, but he always took care of Derek and me…and got in trouble for it too." Duncan grinned, fondly lost in the memories that included him and his brothers. There was a time when Duncan had been the only eight year old to still not have a bike on their street. Derek had convinced Malcolm to help him raid their neighbor's garage and "borrowed" the neighbors' son's bike for Duncan to ride for the day. The three brothers had spent a happy, fun day riding "borrowed" bikes until Duncan had accidently crashed the bike after loosing control going downhill. The three brothers had stayed up all that night having to rebuild the bikes under their father's glaring eyes.

Yeah, good times.

"I bet they're really proud of you right now." Duncan heard Courtney remark. "They're probably sitting at your house, arguing about what you're going to do with all your money."

Through Courtney couldn't see it with Duncan's head bent inside the trout's mouth, Duncan's smile grew icy and his blue eyes seemed to frost over at her words. One of his front legs touched something hard and smooth inside the fish; he wrapped his two front legs around it and started to tug.

"I doubt it!" Duncan said, pulling hard on the fish bone, "Those two left!"

Courtney paused, holding her two pebbles in midair. "They left?"

"Yep," Duncan confirmed, voice turning bitter. "They grew up and left…" He pulled harder on the bone, tugging with all his strength as his bitter words turned into sour growls that he spat out like venom. "Left me with good ol' mom and dad… left me all alone to listen to dad complain about every choice and move I make, to have dad try and force me into being the perfect son, the perfect goody-good, law-biding soon-to-be policeman," The tugs great frantic as his voice rose into an enraged, pained snarl. "…THE…SON…I….CAN…NEVER…BE!"

_**SNAP!**_

The skeleton of the trout torn apart from the flesh with enough force to send Duncan rolling backwards onto his read end. Courtney looked up and gazed at him in alerted concern, both from his outburst and by his fall. Duncan shook his head after the fall and gazed at the trout skeleton in his spider leg with puzzlement as if he had forgotten his whole purpose in the first place.

"I'm done." He finally said, lifting his gaze towards Courtney. He lowered his face again, looking depressed, and set the fishy skeleton on the ground beside him.

Courtney made herself face the pile of twigs and leaves in front of her, knowing that Duncan wouldn't want her to see him the way he was now. She didn't know what to say to ease the pain that Duncan feeling- the betrayal at his brothers leaving him to deal with their overbearing father alone and the cold fact that he could never live up to his parents' expectations.

"So your dad wants you to be a policeman?" Courtney quietly asked, slamming her pebbles together. They let out a pitiful excuse for a spark.

"Yeah, it's what my whole family does."

Courtney couldn't help but grin. "So you can say that you're the black sheep of the flock?"

There was a faint of grin on Duncan's spider face. "Guess you can say that. I just never really wanted to do that."

Courtney slammed the pebbles together again. "So what do you want to be?"

"Duh, a millionaire."

"You're already that!"

Duncan smirked. "I know, I'm just that good."

Courtney gave an annoyed eye roll. "Seriously….?"

"I don't know, nobody's really asked me that before." Duncan admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "The only thing I'm good at is being a criminal." He let his let his leg fall to the ground and gave an upset sigh.

Disappointed, Courtney looked at the ground, pebbles lowered. Suddenly, a strange thought entered her head. She slammed her pebbles together and, as if agreeing with her, a spark sprung out and let the twigs on fire, creating a brilliant blaze of orange, gold, and red. Bathed in light and smiling, Courtney crawled over to Duncan. She reached out and placed a delicate, thin spider leg on his shoulder. He opened his blue eyes and gazed up at her, questioning.

"You know, if it's any consolation, I think you'd make a great actor." She complimented, remembering the wonderful acting he performed for his team earlier in the season. Even though she would never admit it, even she had been close to tears, to her amazement and disbelief, when she'd seen it on television.

Like the spark lighting the bonfire, a smile lit up Duncan's face at the comment. "You…you think so?" he asked. It was an occupation he had never really put much thought into. "Well, I do have the looks." He smugly boasted, smirking and strutting until he looked more like peacock than tarantula.

"Yeah, right." Courtney laughed as she grabbed one end of the trout. Duncan grabbed the other, and together the two spiders lifted the fish and began to carry it towards the fire to be cook.

"All you need to do is start auditioning for a role as a crying, old lady, and you'll be sure to make it big in showbiz." Courtney joked, "Or maybe a sheep. You made an excellent _baa_-er."

"Oh that was low, sweetlegs! It wasn't my fault the scripts got switched! I would have played the gangster just as well!"

"Haha, you keep telling yourself that, Granny D_aaaaaaaaaa_cun."

* * *

_Seek…_

_Capture…._

_**Kill….**_

_Seek…_

_Capture…_

_**Devour….**_

In the dark void of the shadow creatures' minds, the evil mantras were chanted. The vile beings glided across the surfaces of the water, trees, and rocks like haunting nightmares slipping into a sleeping child's mind. Under Heather's orders, they were to search for and find the tarantula teen. The shadow monster scoured the forest, sniffing out signs for their victim like hounds of hell.

One shadow creature spotted colored fragment floating on the surface of a muddy puddle. The malicious creature sniffed at what remained of the Chris balloon.

_Rain…_

_Fear…._

_Spider…._

The monstrous creature of darkness gave a vile sneer. It raised its shadowy head up and unleashed a beastly howl into the night sky. Its comrades slithered towards him in a dark tide, following their leader. Duncan and Courtney's scent led them like a blazing beacon through the forest. The demons galloped, cantered, and raced through the jungle of leaf and branch, cackling and howling with spiteful glee, filled with blood-lust the closer and closer they got to their prey.

_Run…_

_Prey…_

_Hide…_

_Slay…_

_Catch…_

_Kill…Kill…KILL…KILL…__**KILL!**_

* * *

"Hahah, _da_, so after I won my ninth log rolling competition, me and my circus buddies, Wolf, Hare, and Vixen, are all sitting around playing cards, and I give all of them the evil eye, _da_, and growl, 'No cheating! If anyone is caught cheating, her smug red-furred face is gonna hurt! Hahahah!"

Laughter from Courtney, Duncan, and Bunneh erupted at the end of Molotov's story. The four friends and traveling companions were relaxing around the campfire that Courtney had made, all pleasantly full after sharing the cooked trout.

Bunneh let out a loud, disgusting belch. "Wow, after that meal, I think I might have to start rethinking my herbivore lifestyle. Need a little more meaty protein in my diet."

"Just stick to carrots." Courtney retorted, earning chuckles from Duncan and Molotov.

"I must agree with my little, obnoxious comrade." The Russian bear said, patting his bulging stomach. "That was a delicious meal. You two cook a wonderfully together." Molotov told Duncan and Courtney.

The spider couple looked quite embarrassed by the bear's compliments and avoided eye contact with one another.

"It was nothing." Duncan grumbled, grinning at the ground.

All of the sudden, Molotov let out a loud gasp of joy. Bunneh and the tarantulas looked over at the bear to see him staring up at the night sky, a look of pure happiness and surprise spread across his furry face.

"There she is," the bear said, staring upwards towards the starry heavens. "The most beautiful bear to ever set paw on this blessed earth."

"Evangeline?" Courtney stood up, eyes wide and shining with curiosity. "She's here?"

Even Duncan and Bunneh looked interested. Bunneh's long ears stood tall and rigid with attentive excitement. "Where is she? I want to see the girl you keep gushing about all day."

Molotov swung his head towards his companions, looking shocked. "Are you three _**blind**_?" He pointed his muzzle up towards the sky. "She is right there! Right in front of us."

Duncan and Courtney had scurried up onto a low tree branch and were now following their gazes up to area of sky where Molotov's nose was pointing. All they saw were patches of twinkling stars littering the night sky.

"I don't see anything but balls of gas." Bunneh scoffed.

Courtney scowled. "They're called stars, _dorak_!" At least when this entire adventure was over, she could say that she was fluent in a second language.

Bunneh snorted. "Same thing!"

Whether Molotov heard them or not was unclear. He was still staring up at the stars with adoration. "There is her cute little nose." He said endearingly, raising a paw to the sky. "Her fur shimmers like moonlight. _Lyubimaya moya_! Look how her eyes shine!"

Duncan leaned close to Courtney and whispered, "Molotov is beginning to scare me, but not in the way I had imagined."

Courtney hated to agree with Bunneh and Duncan, but Molotov _**was**_ acting crazy. The bear was talking to stars for goodness sake! The brown and purple tarantula stared hard at the one patch of stars that Molotov was staring at, at least trying to see what he was seeing. Courtney was no astronomer, but even she could recognize the North Star, which was part of the Big Dipper, which also had another name...one less used…a constellation and image less seen…

Then it finally dawned upon her.

"Ursa Major." Courtney told Duncan. "The Big Dipper. To some people it doesn't look like a dipper, but is the constellation of a bear."

Duncan tilted his head to one side, squinting his eyes at group of stars. "It still looks like a dipper to me."

Courtney shot him a severe glare. "Don't you dare tell Molotov!"

Duncan sent her an indignant look. "Of course not! I'm not that heartless!"

"I can never tell by the way you treat Harold about LeShawna." The girl pointed out.

"Molotov still has a chance with star girl, Harold's just hopeless." Duncan retorted, though his expression held a bit of sadness. Courtney suspected that he felt just as sorry for Molotov as she did.

On the ground below the two spiders, Molotov was still gazing up at Evangeline with enough love burning in his eyes to wipe away any doubts that his mate was real to Duncan and Courtney, if only for a second. To their amazement, as the spider couple watched Molotov sit on ground, staring up at the sky, he opened his jaws and began to sing.

"_**Look how she lights up the sky."**_ The bear sang in a deep, gentle voice that seemed to soar right up into the stars. _**"My belle Evangeline."**_

"And I thought the French were hopeless romantics." Duncan jokingly commented. Courtney painfully elbowed him in the stomach and gestured him to be silent.

"_**So far above me, yet I,"**_ sang Molotov, rising to stand on his hind leg. He reached out with one giant paw and began to outline the shape of a beautiful bear out in the stars with his claw. _**"Know her heart belongs to only me." He**_ dotted the two twinkling stars that shined brighter than the rest for her eyes.

"_**Ya budu vsegda lyubit tebya…ya vizshu tebya vo sne…mne ne zshit bez tebya"**_

Even Bunneh, Courtney, and Duncan could not understand the Russian phrases Molotov was murmuring, the passion and love radiating from them was clear enough. Evangeline's shine seemed to gleam from Molotov's eyes as he sang.

"_**You're my queen of the night. So still…so bright…"**_

Duncan found himself being drawn towards Courtney. With a sideways glance, the mohawked tarantula watched her as she listened to Molotov's rich, passionate voice drift up to the branches, serenely smiling and gently swaying back and forth as if dancing with herself.

To his own surprise and slight horror, Duncan found himself asking, "Would you like to dance?"

Courtney immediately realized what she had been doing and stopped swaying, replying quickly. "N-No!" Her frightful tone switched to scornful. "Especially not after seeing you dance back at the Total Drama Island party!"

"Bet it's better than anything you can do!" Duncan taunted.

"I can dance circles around you!" Courtney countered, fired up.

"Prove it!" Without waiting for her to reply, Duncan grabbed her two front legs and wrapped them with his own, pulling her close so that they in the position to do a waltz. To his surprise, Courtney let out a squeak of fear, swiftly untangled her legs from his, and scrambled back as if stung.

"I can't dance." Courtney bitterly admitted, her back turned away from Duncan. "I've never even been to one." Sure, she had planned tons of dances for her school, but what was the point of going when nobody ever asked you out?

Courtney squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for Duncan to start gloating. But instead, she felt something soft and warm touch her shoulder. She opened her eyes and turned to see Duncan, his leg on her shoulder and blue eyes twinkling.

"If you can learn how to sing like an angel, how to do martial arts like a freaking ninja, and how to scare the crap out of anyone that tries to get in your way of winning, Courtney, then you can definitely dance!"

There was such certainty in Duncan's words that Courtney just couldn't help but trust them.

Smiling, Courtney allowed herself to be pulled up to her feet on again by Duncan. They gripped their front spider legs together and pressed their body close. For the first time in quite a long time, blue eyes and dark eyes stared into each other, finding only trust.

Then, under the beautiful glow of Evangeline, they danced.

It was slow at first since neither of them were quite experts at the art of slow dancing. Courtney had no dancing experience whatsoever and Duncan's idea of dancing looked more like a rabid baboon shaking its butt. But really, what teen in their generation actually did a waltz anymore?

However, when humans get transformed into tarantulas, rabbits learn out to play the ukulele, and circus bears fall in love with the stars, then anything is possible…

_**Anything.**_

As Duncan twirled Courtney around, Bunneh, down below and sitting next to Molotov, began to play a romantic melody on his ukulele. As they watched the spider couple dance with one another, the rabbit and bear shared sly, knowing glances.

The two tarantulas waltz in slow, lazy circles on the tree branch, trying not step on one of the other's six legs. Duncan leaned closed and breathed into Courtney's ear slit, "How about we try walking on air?"

Courtney frowned, puzzled. "What are you…" she let out a gasp when Duncan let go of her and leapt off the branch. Then she notice that he had attached some silk thread to the branch and was still attached to the other end. Finally understanding his words and smiling with delight, Courtney copied his actions and jumped into the air after him.

The two spiders soared downward, laughing and twirling in the air like acrobats, knowing that they were safe from hitting the ground due to their silk thread. It was almost as if they were flying. Duncan grabbed Courtney and spun her around, rewarded by her laugh and smile as she enjoyed the weightlessness hanging in midair.

They were truly dancing on air.

"_**Oh, love is beautiful!"**_ sang Molotov, watching the youngsters dance with undisguised delight.

Duncan and Courtney descended lower and lower to the ground, twirling around one another. There were smiles in their faces as moved as gracefully as swans in the air.

"_**Love is wonderful!"**_

As the spider couple made it to the grassy ground, Duncan pulled Courtney close and pulled them back up to the branch using his silk thread.

"_**Love is everything, don't you agree?" **_

Still with Courtney wrapped up in his front legs, Duncan bent forward so that they were both leaning downward. Courtney tilted her upward to meet Duncan's gaze, and he felt his breath be taken away by the how brightly her beautifully dark eyes shined, as if the stars themselves had fallen within them.

"_**Look how she lights up the sky…"**_

As his heart beat wildly within his chest, Duncan found himself smiling down at Courtney. As the last notes of Bunneh's ukulele and the last words of Molotov's song floated up the Evangeline, the two tarantulas found their faces being pulled closer and closer together…

"_**I love you, Evangline…"**_

Before Duncan and Courtney's lips could touch, before the magic romance of the night could be complete, it was shattered in the blink of an eye.

Duncan was suddenly ripped from Courtney's embrace as his own shadow was gripped by a dark, shadowed claw.

There was a horrid, unnatural cackle, then a terrified, echoing scream as Duncan was quickly dragged into the darkness.

"_DUNCAN!"_

* * *

**It's kind of funny, when I had first started sketching out how this story was going to go, I originally had Molotov not being in love with a star but actually being in love with LeShawna. Originally, Molotov was only going to help Duncan and Courtney because Duncan promised that he would be able to get Molotov close to LeShawna (quite similar to the Naveen bribing Louis). I had this whole funny scene planned for the last chapter that had LeShawna being forced to go on a romantic, table-clothed dinner with Molotov as well as having an angry Harold sitting at the table with Duncan and Courtney on either side of Molotov, Courtney translating Molotov for LeShawna while Duncan translated for Harold. **

**And then I remembered about Ursa Major being a bear and used that instead.**

**In other news, I've started planning another Total Drama crossover story, which I might have the first chapter up next week. It's a tad bit trickier than this crossover. The crossover is of a movie that just recently came to the theaters and, like with this story, it will use only characters from the show, no new characters. It will have Duncan, Harold, and Courtney as the main characters. However, their placement will be a bit…odd. And the shipping will be a bit…odd. Even my twin sister (the one I always discuss my ideas with) gave me a "How the hell are you going to pull this off" look after I told her the basic story outline. However, after some explaining, I finally won her over and she agreed that will be a pretty interesting story to read.**

**I hope the same fans of this story will enjoy the next one. **

**Until then, please read and review!**


	14. Storytime with Gumbo

**Author's Notes: Well, I'm finally back from my senior trip to Europe and I'm ready to get back to story updating. Just saw the new season of Total Drama World Tour and, needless to say, I'm a little upset that Duncan left so early. However, the music was kind of catchy and I'm looking forward to see if Courtney and Gwen will learn to get along later in the season (since they are on the same team). I feel sorry for Cody though…hehe, he's on the team that has a girl gender symbol to represent it. Things are really looking good for those Noah/Cody shippers. Joking, joking…**

**About my upcoming Total Drama story. It will be a crossover with How to Train Your Dragon and the main ship will be Courtney/Harold. It's a ship that I haven't found in any Total Drama story so far which is odd because fans come up with tons of crack ships and I would think that after all the interactions between the two, some fan would be crazy enough to try to write a shipping story about them. *sigh* Looks like I'll have to be that crazy fan. Three guesses on who Duncan will play. His part is going to make the cross-over a challenge to do (though one that I will enjoy).**

**As always, here's some review replies: **

**CarmdillaD: Congrats on getting the DVD! I love all the deleted scenes (I even had Duncan say one of the lines from the deleted scene in the last chapter), particularly that one. It does remind me of the Duncan/Courtney cuddling scene. I'm glad you loved those lines from the last chapter. Those lines were some of my favorite ones to write in the story.**

**FavingFreak: I love adding in details from the show because it's a fun challenge trying to see where it would fit in perfectly. I'm really glad that you're enjoying the story so much because of it. Thank you for the compliment about keeping the character's dialogues accurate to their personalities. It's really quite a challenge to do and I really appreciate the comment.**

**That's it for now! Please enjoy!**

* * *

Courtney let out a stunned cry as Duncan was ripped from their tender embrace and dragged into the darkness by an unseen force.

"_DUNCAN!"_

The female spider's horrified shout instantly caught the attention of her companions. Bunneh and Molotov stopped what they were doing and jumped into action. They had been watching Courtney and Duncan in delight as the teen couple had been only seconds away from kissing and had seen the strange shadow being drag the mohawked tarantula away by his own shadow.

"_COURTNEEEEEY!" _Duncan's fading scream echoed throughout the Canadian forest as he was dragged through its dark depths. Though he could seen nothing physically grabbing his legs, Duncan could still feel iron-strong claws gripping onto him.

"Quick, jump on!" Molotov ordered, lowering himself so that Courtney could quickly climb onto his back. As soon as the brown and purple tarantula was secure, the massive bear was off after his _Bratka_.

Bunneh was ahead, already hopping after Heather's evil minion. However, the rabbit was tiring very quickly. "Hold on…*_huff_*…little buddy…*_huff_*…oh, I got a cramp_…_" Bunneh panted, gulping up big breaths of air. "Help is on the way! ACK!" As he ran by, Molotov scooped Bunneh up with his snout and tossed onto his back along to ride along with Courtney.

"We're coming, Duncan!" Courtney shouted, holding on for dear life to the fur on Molotov's head. She could faintly see Duncan up ahead- his blue eyes were wide with fear as he desperately tried to cling to the ground with all free legs.

The shadow creature clutching the shadow of his leg soared over a large spider web between two trees. Though the shadow being was able to go through it, Duncan hung on to the sticky threads for dear life. He was ripped from the shadow creature's grip and sent flying backwards, straight onto Molotov's back.

"YES!" Bunneh and Courtney loudly cheered and hugged a very surprised Duncan that had landed between them.

The shadow creature noticed that his claws were empty of a hostage and whirled back around, charging towards the four friends with blank eyes narrowed and an angry snarl on his black face.

Molotov backed away slowly with the others trembling in fear on his back as the dark creature swiftly approached.

Suddenly, a beam of light burst through the leafy foliage of some bushes and fell upon the shadow creature's backside. The demonic being withered and wormed around in pain, and let out a high-pitched shriek before dissolving into harmless shreds of black mist.

Staring into the empty space that was once before the shadow creature with eyes wide with amazement, the four friends instantly turned their heads towards the bushes. The bushes shook as the source of the sudden beam of light stepped out into the open

Duncan and Courtney's jaws dropped in shock as they stared at their surprise savior.

"_**Chef?"**_

The big, loud, intimidating chef and lackey of the Total Drama series stepped out of the bushes with a flashlight in his hand and expression of deep annoyance on his face.

"Who else were you expecting? Marie Laveau?" Chef nonchalantly answered, not at all fazed at the fact that two tarantulas had just talked to him. The grizzled chef placed his hands on his hips and fixed his angry black, beady eyes on the four animals.

"Now which one of you maggots was messing with voodoo?" He growled.

Bunneh and Courtney immediately tossed Duncan onto the ground in front of Chef to fend for him self.

Now that he was _quite_ a bit shorter (and more squishable) since the last time he'd seen the vicious chef, Duncan now realized that perhaps it wasn't the best idea to have gotten on Chef's bad side all those times on the show.

"Hehehe…" Duncan gave a nervous chuckle, sinking low to the ground and ever so slightly edging away from Chef's ever-so-large foot. The poor tarantula withered underneath the large man's frosty glare.

"Sooo…I have ever mentioned how absolutely _delicious_ I think your scrambled eggs are?"

* * *

"LeShawna, I know what you're trying to do."

Back at the hotel, fellow Total Drama contestants Gwen and LeShawna were walking back to their rooms after just coming up from dinner in the cafeteria. The two close friends were talking as they walked down the long, carpeted hallway.

LeShawna pulled an innocent look. "Girl, I don't know what you're talking about."

Gwen gave a forlorn sigh, but kept going. "You're trying to get me and Trent back together."

"No I'm not!" LeShawna argued, eyes darting back and forth nervously.

"I really appreciate the gesture," Gwen continued, ignoring LeShawna's protest, "But Trent and I are over. It's better that way, for both of us."

"But you two were great together!" LeShawna blurted out. The plump black girl placed a hand on Gwen's shoulder. Her dark eyes were full of sympathy. "Plus you really liked Trent…and you still do. Guitar boy feels the same way, I'm sure of it."

The teal-streaked Goth shook her head. "It's clear that it's not going to work out." Gwen sadly admitted. "Trent can't trust me to be faithful to him! And I can't trust him to be himself when he's all obsessed like he was on the show! Sometime's it's as if our personalities are too different to ever work out as a couple."

A smirk crossed LeShawna's face. "Be careful, girl, you two are starting to sound like Duncan and Courtney."

Gwen was less than amused. "And look how they turned out!"

"They're still together." LeShawna weakly pointed out.

"For how long?" Gwen sharply replied. It was true that after Total Drama Action, many of the contestants were holding bets to when Courtney and Duncan finally had enough of each other. "It's better that we broke up when we did. I don't want to have to fight to make a relationship work."

Gwen grew silent afraid that, signaling that the conversation was off. However, the proud city girl wouldn't let it die without dishing out her best friend one last word of advice.

"Well, my momma always did say that there are some things that are worth fighting for."

If Gwen had wanted to reply back, she lost her chance the moment she and LeShawna came upon a rather interesting sight.

"Sorry Bridge, but I can't get it open!" It was Geoff and he looked like he was in the process trying to break the handle off one of the hotel doors.

"Keep trying!" Bridgette was urging him on. "Duncan was your best friend. Didn't he teach you any delinquent tricks or something?"

"Breaking-and-entering a locked hotel room never really showed up in any of our conversations, Bridge." Geoff paused, thought for a second, and added, "Except that one time…but instead of a hotel it was a casino…that was a good story…"

LeShawna thought this was a good time to butt in. "What are you two doing?" She demanded, stepping up and eyeing the two with suspicion.

The two blondes jumped in surprise and turned in unison to face Gwen and LeShawna.

"Nothing!" Bridgette instantly said, looking quite guilty.

"Breaking into Courtney's room." Geoff breezily replied. Bridgette punched him in the shoulder. "Ow! What? It's just Gwen and she's cool, right Gwen?" Geoff turned his puppy-like eyes to Gwen.

"Courtney's not my favorite person in the world, but I'm still a little concerned about why you two are breaking into her room. Especially you, Bridgette!" Gwen never imagined Bridgette would ever willingly do something like this.

"I don't think Courtney's at her aunt's." Bridgette said. "I think Harold's right and that Courtney is in trouble."

"Kay now you're starting to sound crazy!" LeShawna said, "And why do you even care about Ms. Crazy-in-Training anyway?"

Bridgette's olive eyes flashed with unusual anger. "Because she's my best friend! I know that none of you really like her, but none of you got to know her like I did before she got voted off in season one."

Yes, Bridgette knew that Courtney was assertive, bossy, obsessively competitive, and sometimes brutally honest, but she was also a good leader for their team. Courtney had also been a very kind and forgiving towards Bridgette- listening to her trouble with Geoff and not holding a grudge even after Bridgette had broken Courtney's precious violin.

"Court's a nice chick." confirmed Geoff. He had gotten along quite well with Courtney himself. "If my man Dunk and his girl are in trouble, then I'm there." Geoff threw up his hands and unleashed a party cry. "Killer Bass for life, dude! WHOO!"

"But Duncan's fine." Gwen reasoned. "We all saw him last night."

"Bridge said that that isn't Duncan." Geoff said with a shrug. "He's really Justin. I thought that high-five felt a little weak…"

"What? Are you two insane?" LeShawna yelled, throwing her hands up in frustration. "Even Lindsay can tell the difference between Duncan and Justin!"

"Not with voodoo magic." Geoff happily put in, quoting Harold.

LeShawna and Gwen shared an uncomfortable glance at each other. Both shared the secret knowledge of all the voodoo stuff that LeShawna's granny had sent from New Orleans to help enhance LeShawna's chances of winning the show. However, LeShawna had never used the stuff and it was all safe and sound in Gwen's room.

Wasn't it?

"Okay," Gwen said, growing a bit nervous, "let's just say that hypothetically Heather did manage to get hold of some voodoo magic…"

"Hypothetically, of course!" LeShawna hastily reminded, sounding as nervous as Gwen was. If all this bunch of craziness was true, the two friends did not want the others to find out that Heather had gotten the voodoo stuff from Gwen and LeShawna.

"…what do you want us to do to help?" Gwen finished.

_**Three minutes later….**_

A high-pitched, shrilly scream could be heard just before the door of Courtney's hotel room burst open as LeShawna, Gwen, and Bridgette came charging through, holding up a screaming Geoff between them. They had used the party boy as an effective battering ram.

"Thanks honey!" Bridgette chirped, leaning forward to give her boyfriend a peck on the cheek.

The pained expression on Geoff's face melted into happiness. "No problem, babe! Anything for you." He let out a shriek of pain when all three girls dropped him to the ground to examine the room.

"You know, I always imagined Courtney's room being a tad bit more organized." Gwen remarked, glancing around. The room was a mess with random items and clothing thrown all around.

"Looks like a tornado went through here," commented LeShawna, picking up a broken mirror that was lying on the floor, "or a fight."

A gasp came from Bridgette. "Courtney couldn't have left. Her suitcase is still here on the bed." The surfer girl pointed to the suitcase propped open on the bed. There was only one item left inside it- one of Courtney's purple shirts.

Bridgette picked up the shirt and clutched it close to her chest, feeling overwhelmed with worry for her friend.

"If Courtney isn't here," Bridgette said, turning to face her friends with distress pooled into her olive eyes, "Then where could she be?"

* * *

"You know," Courtney said to Duncan as they followed Chef into the mess hall of Camp Wawanakwa with Bunneh and Molotov, "if someone had told me that I'd be happy to see this place again before this all happened, I'd personally escort them to the nearest mental institution."

"If someone had told me that I'd be glad to see Chef again," Duncan joked, "I'd had punched them in the face."

"ENOUGH CHATTERING! Don't make me bring my fly swatter on your hairy spider butts!" Chef warned as stormed into the kitchen.

When he was gone, Duncan turned to Courtney and asked, "Okay, so why did I agree to this again?"

"The million dollar ceremony is tomorrow night and we only have one day to get there, and it's roughly about fifty miles walking distance from where we are right now." Courtney bluntly replied.

"Well, I say we just hijack some car and take to the hills." Bunneh said, leaning against Molotov's stout leg. "I may have left the show early, but I saw plenty of that psycho enough to know that one wrong move, and you'll end up in the boiling pot!'

"Or the boat house." Courtney added, shooting Duncan a sideways smile.

"All in all, not my worst punishment." Duncan put in, returning her smile. The two had dreamy expressions on their faces as they remembered that one night in the boathouse.

The moment was ruined when Chef came thundering in with a large pot of something boiling in his arms. He slammed the pot down on the table in front of the animals.

"You four's pathetic scream of terror interrupted my gumbo dinner. If you two had had the common decency to call before arriving," Chef growled, fixing the tarantula couple with a frightening glare. "I would have had time to fix up a gruel dish more suitable to your taste!"

With no further words, Chef slammed three bowls down on the table and began pouring hot, delicious-looking gumbo into them. He slid the first bowl over to Duncan and Courtney, along with a single spoon, and slid the others to Bunneh and Molotov.

"This isn't my vomit is, it?" Duncan questioned, pointing a leg at the steaming gumbo. Chef ignored the question.

At the sight of the single spoon, Courtney shot Chef an irritated glance. "Only one spoon? We have to share? Can't you have the courtesy of giving another spoon?"

Chef only narrowed his eyes and let out a warning growl that quickly shut the teen girl up. To Courtney's surprise, Duncan pushed the spoon over to her side of the bowl.

"Here, you use it."

Courtney felt touched by such a gentleman-like gesture. "Thank you, Duncan! That was so..."

Duncan then plunged his entire head into the bowl and began to noisily slurp up the delicious Louisiana dish, making loud smacking and chewing sounds as he ate.

"…absolutely disgusting." Courtney finished, watching Duncan eat his gumbo like an animal with an appalled expression on her face. Molotov and Bunneh were eating in the same manner.

Duncan lifted his head from the gumbo, chewing on a piece of sausage. "Wanna try some?" he asked with a full mouth.

Courtney sighed and tossed her spoon to the ground. "I just lost my appetite."

"So what's the deal with you and delinquent as creepy-crawlies?" Chef asked.

"Heather and Justin used voodoo magic to change Duncan into a tarantula in order to steal his million dollars." Courtney explained while her companions ate. "I got turned into one after I kissed him."

Chef barked out a laugh. "HA! You kissed a spider! Who in their right mind kisses something as disgusting as that?"

"Oh shut up!" Courtney was getting very tired of hearing everybody's reactions to the kissing part of the story. "Stuff happened and we ended up here in the middle of the forest and have been searching for you ever since so that you can help us!"

"What are you doing all alone here anyway?" Duncan asked, wiping away the last remains of gumbo from his face.

"Working on getting ready for next season of course." Chef said, going up to one of the mess hall windows. He pulled up the blinds to reveal a giant jumbo jet parked in the middle of the camp grounds. On the side of the jet was a half-way painted portrait of Chris' face.

"As tempting as it is to remain as tarantulas and escape another season of random crap, can you just help us change back already so I can get my million?" Duncan asked, glaring at the idea of Chris making them go through another stupid season.

"Is that all you selfish maggots care about is that money?" Chef snarled, "Dig a little deeper inside yourselves and tell me the truth…is the money the really the reason why you want to change back to human?"

Duncan and Courtney turned and silently stared at each other for a couple of meaningful seconds before turning back and saying….

"Yeah, it's all about the money." Duncan said without much concern.

"Same here." Agreed Courtney.

"All about the greens!" Bunneh added, jumping up. Molotov whacked him on the back of the head.

Chef shrugged. "Oh well, I tried." He didn't really sound like he cared either way. "I think I might have something that will help you blunder heads out." Chef reached behind his back and pulled out a large, red book and slammed it down on the table so that Duncan and Courtney could read the title.

Duncan made a face and scowled. "Aw, that's just the stupid fairy tale book that Chris used in that stupid challenge!"

"BE QUIET FOOL!" Chef ordered as he grabbed the book and started to flip through the pages. "Now back in the war, I ran into some voodoo myself. Spent days fighting my way through the jungle as a rat…."

_**Flashback…**_

Deep in the jungles out east, a large, well-muscled and scarred, brown rat viciously battled head-to-head with a vicious twenty-foot long anaconda as a storm raged overhead. The rat punched the giant snake in the snout and let out a war-cry.

"YOU AIN'T GOING TO GET A PIECE OF ME, MAGGOT!"

_**End of flashback…**_

"But lucky I remembered the first rule of magic that my dear momma read to me in fairy tales."

"Which is…" Courtney urged.

Chef put on a pair of reading glasses and read from the fairy tale book.

"A kiss from a princess always breaks the spell…THE END!" he slammed the book shut.

"Well then, who the hell did you kiss?" Duncan demanded.

"Madonna, the Princess of Pop." Chef said, earning a joke drum roll. "But that's another story." He added, tossing the fairy tale book aside.

"Then we're completely screwed." Courtney moaned. "It's impossible for us to be able to find a princess by tonight, let along convince her to kiss Duncan!"

To both Duncan and Courtney's surprise, Chef began to unleash a dark, evil chuckle. "Oh, I think I know one." A chill went though Duncan and Courtney at the look on Chef's face.

"Who?" Duncan dared to ask.

Letting out a gleeful cackle, Chef pulled out something from behind his back. The tarantula couple let out gasps of horror.

"It can't be!" Courtney shrieked, holding her face as she stared at horrid object.

"Noo!" Duncan's blue eyes were wide fear. "Anything but that man! Anything!"

It was a Princess Beth doll.

* * *

**Muewahaha….bet you didn't see that coming, did ya? Special thanks to me sister for giving me the idea to put in a funny flashback of Chef as a rat in the story. Please Read and Review!**


	15. Bonus Chapter: Dig A Little Deeper!

**Author's Note: Well, my days have gone quite crappy of the late. Dog had accident, can't get in touch with animation college, and I just saw Duncan and Gwen kiss on the newest TDWT promo. I miss back in season one where Duncan and Courtney's love was questionable and they had so many cute moments. *starts sobbing* I REFUSE TO CONVERT TO D/G! I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE!**

**Sorry, had to get that out of my system. Times like this when I want to set up a complaint choir (which are actually funny to listen to). Back to the story…**

**Well, only a couple more chapters left in this story. Have to say, that this has been on of my favorite stories to write and I hope that I've made it sound like a real Total Drama episode because that was always my original goal. I wanted the story to feel as if the reader was actually watching an episode (or movie) of Total Drama. One of secret desires is to be able to work on an actual theater-worthy Total Drama film. Its so rare nowadays to see a television cartoon put on the big-screen when not turned into live-action. Once out of animation school, who knows what the future holds?**

**Anyway, here are some review replies:**

**CarmdillaD: Lol, you guessed right! Duncan shall be taking over the role as Toothless in my upcoming fic. It's a weird idea, but Duncan has enough unique mannerisms that will make him a familiar character despite being cast as a speechless dragon. Harold was always going to be Hiccup. LeShawna was going to be Astrid, but Courtney just seemed to fit the character so much more (right down to the angry rant) and when Courtney was put in, I just had to put Duncan in there somewhere as well. **

**Back to the actual story, I'm glad you liked the talk between Gwen and LeShawna. It was originally going to a lot shorter and was not going to be compared to Duncan and Courtney. However, looking back, I realized that both couples share the same problems- not being able to trust one another and having different attitudes. Gwen is calm and relaxed like Duncan, while both Trent and Courtney seem very distrustful and paranoid about their partners. Lol, hugs for sweet Geoff. I adore his trustful character so much despite how much I hurt him. Yes, the Princess Beth dolls were one of the first things I thought of for the story. It's been killing me to wait this long to let the plot twist out!**

**ChipmunkFanatic: I'm happy I lifted up your mood even though I'm sorry to say, that I'm not in a better one. Lol, Bridgette and Geoff's part in the chapter was one of the first scenes I thought off while planned out the story. Here's your song chapter!**

**Ribbonfly: Well, they used gumbo in the actual movie as well. I still adored the joke with Duncan's vomit in Space Owen, though it kind of made me a tad bit queasy since gumbo is one of my favorite meals. Fraid' I never watched the Wedding Singer.**

**Please enjoy the newest bonus chapter featuring the song "Dig a Little Deeper" from the movie!**

* * *

"Is that all you selfish maggots care about is that money?" Chef snarled, glaring down at the two tiny arachnids. He pointed a thick finger at them and said, "You two need to listen up to Chef, fools!"

The large black man walked over to a small radio and hit his fist against it so that it turned on to some gospel, uplifting music.

"Oh no…" Duncan slapped a foot over his face, realizing what was going on. "Dude, what's with you people and singing?" he complained.

"You better get used to it, fool." Chef ominously whispered to the male tarantula before starting to sing.

"_**Don't matter what you look like."**_ Chef gruffly sang, much to the teenagers' horror. _**"Don't matter what you wear! How many rings you got on your finger**_!" He danced up to the window which opened to reveal a punch of squirrels. _**"Cause we don't care!"**_

"_**No, we don't care**_!" sang the squirrels, waving their tiny arms and flagging their tails.

"_**Don't matter where you come from."**_ Sang Chef, stepping beside Bunneh and Molotov. _**"Doesn't even matter what you are!"**_ He pointed at each surprised animal singing, _**"A bear, a rabbit, a spider, we got them all in here!"**_

"_**WE GOT THEM ALL IN HERE!" **_the cute, furry squirrels loudly cried, leaping onto the tables and dancing around Chef.

"_**And they knew what they wanted, what they wanted me to do**_," Chef leaned down and angrily shouted into Duncan's and Courtney's faces. _**"AND THEY WERE WRONG JUST LIKE YOU!"**_

More animals, including raccoons and chipmunks, leaped through the open windows and danced and sang in the mess hall much to Duncan's and Courtney's discomfort.

"_**You gotta dig a little deeper!" **_the little Wawanakwa critters sang.

"_**Find out who you are!"**_ Chef added, tossing Molotov a musical instrument. Bunneh happily pulled out his ukulele and started playing.

"_**You gotta dig a little deeper!"**_ A moose had stuck his giant, antlered head through the window and was singing along with some loons perched on his head.

"_**It really ain't that far!"**_ Chef shouted from the kitchen. He tossed a frying pan from the kitchen and it landed right beside Duncan and Courtney. The two looked at their reflections in the metal surface as the animals around Chef sang.

"_**When you find out who you are, you'll find out what you need!"**_

Courtney noticed that Duncan's reflection was gazing into hers. She took a quick glance back, and Duncan shot her a cocky grin. The female spider gave an annoyed eye roll.

"_**Blue skies and sunshine guaranteed!"**_

Suddenly Duncan was unexpectedly snatched up by Chef's giant hand and held up in the air by the scruff of his neck, face level with Chef's permanently scowling face.

"_**Yo, delinquent here's a rich little boy, you wanna be rich again?"**_ sang Chef.

"Uh, yeah?" Duncan said with a smart alec "duh" expression on his spider face.

"WRONG ANSWER!" bellowed Chef, voice raising a couple of volumes. _**"That ain't gonna make you happy now, did it make you happen then?"**_

"I never even had the mone…" Duncan began before being loudly cut off by Chef.

"_**NO!"**_ Chef shouted, dropping the tarantula to the ground. He began to throw dollar bills onto the ground, letting it rain upon Duncan. _**"Money ain't got no soul! Money ain't got no heart!"**_

Duncan looked quite pleased with the situation until a large money bag was dropped on top of him.

"_**All you need is some self-control! Make yourself a brand new start!"  
**_

The mohawked tarantula managed to squeeze his upper body out from underneath the giant money bag. He shot Chef a furious glare. "And this advice is coming from a guy who tried bribing Izzy and DJ into sharing the award money!"

Chef stuffed a dollar bill into Duncan's mouth.

"_**You gotta dig a little deeper!" **_All the animals sang, dancing around the mess hall, on the tables and on the window sills. The loons flew in circles overhead.

"_**Don't have far to go!"**_ Chef sang as he picked up Duncan and placed the tiny tarantula on the windowsill.

"_**You gotta dig a little deeper!"**_

"_**Tell them campers that Chef told ya so!"**_ Chef gestured Duncan towards one the tables where Courtney was happily dancing with Molotov. The giant bear was twirling his little friend with one of his long claws. Duncan's jaw dropped, letting loose the dollar bill so that it floated to the ground, completely forgotten as Duncan focused all his attention on Courtney. Duncan was struck in awe at how beautiful she looked, dancing around with a sincere smile on her face.

"_**Can't tell you what you'll find."**_ Chef wisely said with a sly look on his face, _**"Maybe love will grant you peace of mind. Dig a little deeper and you'll know!"**_

With Duncan taken care of, Chef made his way over to a dancing, oblivious Courtney.

"_**Yo Miss Hairy Legs! Stand attention and listen to my words!"**_ Chef barked like a drill sergeant, making Courtney jump in surprise.

"Yes sir!" she squeaked. Chef scooped her up in the palms of his hands and began to walk towards the door.

"_**You're a tough one, that's what I've heard. You wanna be a winner, a competitor through and through."**_ Chef solemnly sang. He pointed to towards Courtney's heart. "_**You're a born leader, don't try to prove it cause it's all in you!"**_

Chef kicked open the door of the mess hall and began to walk into camp grounds with the singing and dancing animals following right behind.

"_**You gotta dig a little deeper!" **_

"_**For you, it's gonna be tough."**_ Chef pointed out to the female spider in his hands as began to climb up the giant ladder that led to the top of the jumbo jet parked in the camp grounds.

"_**You gotta dig a little deeper!"**_

"_**You ain't dug near far enough!"**_ complained Chef. "So hurry it up!"

"_**Oooohhhooooo…"**_ Molotov and Bunneh sang in a harmonious chorus, climbing up the ladder with Chef. Duncan was hurriedly scurrying up the side of the plane.

"_**Dig down deep inside yourself,"**_ continued Chef as he and Courtney made it to the top of the jumbo jet. _**"You'll find out what you need! Blue skies and sunshine guaranteed!" **_

"_**Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaa!"**_ sang the fearsome Sasquatchanakwa in a oddly high-pitched voiced, appearing on the plane out of no where. There were now tons of animals singing and dancing on the wings of the jumbo jet. The entire jet was bathed in golden, morning sunlight, creating a warm and uplifting atmosphere.

"_**Let in the light!"**_ Chef loudly sang, throwing his hands up in jubilee as he, with Courtney on his shoulder, walked down the length of the top of the jet.

"_**Blue skies and sunshine!"**_ sang the animals on either wing, spinning around. The loons and other birds shook their feathers. _**"Blue skies and sunshine!"**_

Chef lifted Courtney into the air and allowed her voice, lovely and much too loud for one so small, to sing up to the heavens.

"_**Blue skies…and sunshineeeeee!"**_ Courtney sang, lifting her head to the clear morning skies.

On the ground, Duncan could only watch, face tilted back in the warm sunshine, smiling and blue eyes glowing with awe at the beautiful sight before him.

"_**Guaranteed!" **_finished Chef, shaking his booty with Courtney on top of his tall, white chef hat.

"_**AAAAAaaaaaahhhhhhaaaa!**_" The animals all sang in unison with the loons spreading their wings wide and shaking them before pointing them all at Courtney.

"So have you finally figured out what we're trying to tell you?" asked Chef, glancing up at the spider on his head. Courtney gave an excited nod, her small figure shining in the golden light.

"Yes I do Chef!" she proudly proclaimed, closing her eyes and nodding her head in a knowing manner, confident that she had figured it all out. "You want me to dig a little deeper and work even harder so that I can the million dollars next season!"

Every animal present let out a groan and slapped a paw or wing to their face in frustration.

"Not…cool…" the Sasquatchanakwa growled.

"What musical number were you listening to, maggot?" Chef growled, "Jeez! What kind of morals are they teaching you kids these days?"

"You mean I wasn't right?" Courtney cried in a shocked, and slightly outraged, tone.

Chef let out a defeated sigh and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well, I tried." He tossed Courtney over his shoulder, ignoring her indignant and angry complaints, and began to walk back to the ladder, calling over his shoulder.

"Meet me back at the mess hall! Got something I want to show you idiots!"

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed this fun little chapter! The real chapter's up next! Read and Review!**


	16. Master Plan Chef!

**Author's Note: So here's the real next chapter! Prepare to read one of my favorite chapters of the story!**

* * *

Duncan immediately leaned into his empty bowl and began to violently throw up in disgust.

"Oh good!" Chef brightly commented, "Looks like you won't need a refill!"

At the comment, Duncan, who had lifted his slightly green face up, instantly slapped a foot over his mouth and leaned over again, unleashing another wave of vomit, body convulsing.

"That's impossible!" Courtney growled up to Chef, ignoring her vomiting companion. "There's no way Beth is a princess! Canada doesn't even have a princess! WE'RE A PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY FOR PETE'S SAKE!"

"Short girl may not be a royal princess, but she is in the world of merchandise." Chef pointed out.

"But I had my own Princess Courtney doll!" Courtney argued, unable to believe what Chef was saying.

"_Had_ is the key word, Miss Bossylegs." Chef said. "If I do remember correctly, since your stringy lawyers wanted 80% of the profit money, Chris had the Princess Courtney dolls replaced with Princess Beth dolls. So she's the official princess of Total Drama."

"But…But…." Stammered Courtney, worked up with anger at what she was hearing. "But that's not fair!" she screeched, "I WAS THE FIRST PRINCESS DOLL!"

"Take it up with the gel-hair man himself." Chef said. "All I'm sayin' is that if you and your delinquent boyfriend want to change back to human, you're going have to kiss Beth by midnight tonight!"

"Aw, don't tell me it's more of that fairy tale rule crap again?" Duncan groaned, lifting his head from the now vomit-filled bowl.

"Yeah, what's going to happen at midnight tonight?" Courtney questioned, not looking too concerned.

"Well, my little half-witted buggy friends," Chef said in a low, dark tones, "At midnight tonight, season two will be officially over for the show and that means the Princess Beth dolls will go off the markets so she won't be a Princess anymore."

"HA!" Courtney cackled in victory. She noticed everyone staring at her and resumed a more somber expression. "Oh…I mean…poor Beth. How tragic."

"I still don't get why they're going off the markets so quickly." Duncan said.

"BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT SELLING, THAT'S WHY FOOL!" Chef hollered into the delinquent's face.

"Okay, so the only way me and Courtney can change back to normal is to have Beth kiss me?" Duncan asked, wanting to be certain.

"Looks like it." Confirmed Chef.

"…On the lips?" Duncan questioned, gulping nervously.

"Hmmhmm." Chef nodded with a smirk on his face that clearly indicated how much the former military man was enjoying this little fiasco. He just loved seeing the little delinquent squirm.

Courtney, who had been oddly silent during the questioning, suddenly spoke. "Uhh, Chef, is the confession stall still open?"

Chef looked slightly puzzled by the odd question. "Yeah, why?"

Courtney gave a very strained smile as she crawled off the table and to the door. "Oh no reason."

Both Duncan and Chef shot themselves confused glances while Bunneh and Molotov did the same as they all watched Courtney scurry out of the mess hall and towards the confessional stalls from season one.

_**Confession Cam**_

Courtney, red in the face and dark eyes blazing, is screaming profanities out in pure, undeniable rage at the camera.

"STUPID _***bleep***_ FAIRY _***bleep***_ TALE CHALLENGE! _***Bleep**bleeping***_ Beth! And _***Bleep**bleeping**bleep***_CHRIS! _***Bleep***_ HIM AND HIS _***bleeping***_ EGOTISTIC _***bleep***_ MONEY-GRUBBING _***bleep***_! _***Bleep***_ THAT IDIOTIC SON OF _***bleep***_!"

With an enraged, censored out scream, the vicious female tarantula broke the toilet seat clean off the toilet and tossed it to the camera.

The rest was just static.

_**End of Confessional.**_

The mess hall was in complete darkness until Chef pulled a string and lit up one tiny light bulb. When the light bulb lit up, it revealed Chef dressed up in a Commanding officer uniform, complete with an army helmet and badges of honor; behind him was a rolling black board with what looked like the chalk drawn outline of an invasion plan. Standing before the drill sergeant slash chef like soldiers ready for briefing were Molotov, Bunneh, Duncan, and Courtney, all decked out in green army helmets.

Chef paced back and forth in front the lined up animals, holding his hands behind his back. Clenched in one fist was a long, skinny pointing stick.

"Listen up, you lot of pathetic maggots!" Chef Hatchet barked in his best drill sergeant voice. The four animals snapped to attention. "Since you two's stupidity has gotten you into a dire life threatening situation, I have taken upon my noble duty to help you…"

"You want some award money, don't you?" Duncan flatly stated.

"Yes indeed." Chef happily confirmed, not bothering to deny it. His expression quickly changed from happy to threatening as he leaned forward, pulling up a large, sharp kitchen knife from behind his back, and gave a threatening shout into Duncan's face. "AND I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE, YOU LITTLE GRASS-STAIN PUNK!"

Having got that minor detail out of the way, Chef resumed his normal disposition. "As I was saying, since I take it upon myself to help you two maggots and your pets out, I have come up with an ingenious plan to get you back to the Total Drama Action studio before the reward ceremony tonight."

"Can't you just drive us there?" Courtney testily asked.

"You got here by yourselves so you can get back by yourselves!" Chef barked. "What do I look like to you? A BABYSITTER? And besides," Chef added, pointing out the window towards the jumbo jet, "airplanes ain't going to paint themselves, you know."

"So what's the plan, Commander Picasso?" Duncan asked.

Chef slapped one end of the stick at one of the white squares drawn on it. "We're here at point A and we need to get all the way over here at point B" He drew the stick across the board to a chalk drawing of the abandoned movie studio.

"To get from Point A to Point B, you four shall use the Boat of Losers to sail all the way to the dock area of the movie studios." Chef explained, "From there, you four can get in contact with short girl and exchange the smooches." Ignoring the looks of disgust on Duncan's and Courtney's faces, he asked, "Any questions?"

Duncan raised his front leg. "Yeah, why the hell do we have to take the Boat of Losers? There's a freaking jumbo jet parked right outside!"

"Fine," Chef said, "You can take the jet, but you'll have to sing a musical number and jump off without a parachute when it's time to land. Is that fine and dandy with you two?"

"We'll take the boat." Duncan and Courtney together sighed.

"I thought so."

* * *

The morning was at its brightest as the dingy Boat of Losers set sail down the river with its passengers waving farewell from its rails.

"Seeya crazy dude!"

"Nice meeting you!"

"Bye Chef! Thanks for the help!"

Duncan said nothing but just playfully mimicked a soldier salute to Chef as the Boat of Losers slowly drifted away from the dock.

"Later maggots!" Chef called out. He was a ladder that was leaning against the side of the jumbo jet and had a hair blow dryer in one hand, and causally blow drying the giant painting of Chris.

When Chef and the dock were well out of sight, the Molotov shuffled over the wheel of the boat to navigator since he was the only one tall enough to do such a job. Bunneh stretched his front paws until they gave a satisfying crack.

"Well, I'm officially starving." He grumbled, noisily scratching his rear end. He glanced over at Courtney. "Wanna go see if we can't a fish? You can provide the string while I provide the manly muscle!" The deep-throated rabbit flexed his non-existent muscles.

"How charming." Courtney sarcastically commented. She gave a sideways glance at Duncan, immediately forming a smile on her face. "Would you like to come?"

The smile on Courtney's face unexpectedly made all eight of Duncan's legs feel like jello. With his mind a jumble of confusing thoughts, Duncan's shook his head.

"That's all right. I think I'll hang with Molotov."

Courtney looked slightly disappointed, but was instantly dragged away from Bunneh who proclaimed loudly, "Oh well, more fish for us!"

Once Bunneh and Courtney were on the other side of the boat and out of earshot, Duncan unleashed a deeply troubled sigh, absently running a front leg over his mohawk.

"Something on your mind, _Bratka_?" Molotov knowingly asked from the wheel of the boat.

"None of your business!" Came Duncan's usual comeback, though he instantly regretted it. Molotov had done nothing but help him and Courtney and didn't deserve such stinginess. "Sorry" he moodily apologized, climbing up the wheel so that he could be closer up to Molotov's height.

"Think nothing of it, _Bratka_." The bear replied good-naturedly.

"Why do you do that?" Duncan dared to ask, curiosity finally getting to him. "Why do you keep calling me that?"

The Russian bear gave a rumbling laugh. "It is a compliment, Duncan. It means 'good friend'."

"Oh," Duncan found himself oddly touched by the explanation. A warm, pleasant feeling spread through him at the thought of someone considering him a friend. It made him miss Geoff, Gwen, and DJ…and, strangely enough, Harold as well.

"What about that name you call Courtney? _Shishka_?" Duncan asked.

"It means 'someone very important'." Explained Molotov.

Duncan found himself chuckling at the explanation. "Well that fits. Princess definitely believes she's the most important person in the universe."

The brown bear gave the tarantula a weird look, tilting his head to one side. "I did not call her that because of her bossiness, Duncan."

"Then why?" Duncan stopped chuckling and asked, looking genuinely puzzled.

"Because, my little _bratka_, I saw from the very beginning that she was very important to _**you**_."

Duncan could not trust himself to speak. There such certainty in Molotov's voice as he said it, yet Duncan did not want it to be true. His relationship with Courtney had been filled with too many bumps for him to want it again. Too much anger…too much pain…

Molotov's black eyes met with Duncan's blue. "You love her, Duncan."

…too much love….

"Yeah right," Duncan scoffed, shaking his head, his mind and heart in turmoil, "there's no way I love her! Where have you been this whole time? Haven't you been listening to that girl at all? She's bossy…"

"_Determined…"_

"Way too uptight!"

"_Feisty…"_

"The most annoying person I've ever met…"

"_Has the most beautiful laugh…"_

"And…And…." Duncan stammered with a pounding heart, "And I'm in love with her." His blue eyes grew wide with shock when the realization fully hit him.

"Oh shit, I'm in love with her!" Duncan proclaimed almost falling off the railing of the boat in shock. It wasn't just attraction! It wasn't just a crush! If he could still have such strong feelings for her after all the crap they've gone though in the show and during this entire experience, then it had to be love.

Molotov caught the spider teen before he could fall into the river. "So, you need to tell her!" he laughed.

Duncan shook his mohawked head. "Dude, you don't get it. Sweetlegs and I may have had a thing before, but don't think she wants to be with me." The delinquent remembered the how incident with Gwen and Heather and felt his spirits crash. "She…our relationship won't work. We've tried and it…well…." Jeez how could he say this without sounding like a complete pansy like Trent?

"It blew up in our faces." He finally said, bowing his head.

"Then try it again!" Molotov insisted. "Tell her how much she means to you! You'll never know unless you try, _Bratka_."

Duncan glanced down at the murky water, pondering over Molotov's advice. His eyes suddenly lit up.

"How about a date?"

* * *

Courtney had never really been a fan of fishing. It took too long and required too much patience for her. Plus, she didn't like touching the bugs on the hook.

Because of this, she was content on just lying down on the boat railings, catching some noontime sun while Bunneh continued the fruitless task of trying to catch a fish with some spider thread attached to his stick ukulele.

"I think I felt a nibble!" Bunneh said, giving Courtney his usual commentary every thirty seconds.

"That's nice, Bunneh." Courtney replied in the same tones that an impatient babysitter would use on a five year old.

There was a gap of silence that last several peaceful seconds. Then it came….

"So when you and Dunk get hitched and start popping out little spiderlets, can you name one after me?"

Courtney shot up from her lying position, eyes wide shock. "WHAT?"

"I mean spiders like have a hundred babies, right? I'm sure you don't want to call them all Duncan and Courtney Jr.!"

"Duncan and I are NOT having babies," Courtney spluttered, still blinking her eyes in disbelief at what she had heard. "Especially not a hundred spider babies! We're not even a couple for goodness sake!"

Bunneh's long ears perked up in confusion as he glanced at her. "You're not?"

"Of course not!" Courtney spat, "What on earth ever gave you that hint!"

Bunneh shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, maybe the fact that you two are completely gaga over each other. I can practically hear Duncan wolf whistling every time he looks at you and, no offense babes, but you're no different."

Courtney's cheeks were flushed with embarrassment at where this conversation was heading. "We are not gaga over each other! What kind of love-struck couple argues every five minutes?"

"The only reason you two argue is because you two are waaaay too alike." Bunneh commented. "Freakishly so I might add."

"Too…alike?" This was something new to Courtney. No one had ever said that she and Duncan were alike before. Complete opposites, yes, but never alike. "Me and Duncan are not alike!"

Bunneh gave Courtney a sideway glance, looking quite bored. "Babes, I've never seen a pair more alike than you two." Seeing that the girl was still confused, he continued. "Sure you two might have different interests and different styles, but inside, you two are like soul mates and junk. You two love being in charge, you're both extremely competitive, will probably beat the daylights out of anyone that gets in your way, you two will probably never admit when you're wrong,"

"And," Bunneh added, smiling after a pause, "You two are too proud to admit that you're crazy, head-over-heels, completely and utterly _**whipped**_ over each other."

With that, the rabbit turned back to his fishing.

Stunned into speechlessness, Courtney found herself looking down in the river's surface. Slowly, her watery reflection began to smile back at her.

"We really are alike," Courtney quietly, but happily murmured. "Aren't we?"

* * *

**Don't have too much to say about this chapter except I love vomit jokes and Please read and review!**


	17. Boat Talks and Broken Hearts

**Author's Notes: Just got back from my SCAD college orientation in Savannah, Georgia! Had a great time and finally got my financial aid taken care of! Woot! I AM READY TO START COLLEGE! WORLD OF ANIMATION, HERE I COME!**

**Total Drama characters: No...No….NOOOOO!**

**Haha, I would like to say how thankful I am for all the people who have read this story and especially those who have reviewed it. This story is now my most reviewed story. Let's see if my next story, "How to Train Your Delinquent" can beat it. Still working on the first chapter! **

**Anywhoo, as always, replies to some reviews:**

**CarmillaD: I agree with you that something is kind of fishy about the DxG kiss. I personally believe that Alejandro convinces Duncan that Courtney has her eye on some other guy (Cody, I guess since they're on the same team) and Duncan kisses Gwen to make her jealous. Al has something to with it or my nickname isn't Strix! Like you, I will continue supporting DxC and hoping that Courtney and Gwen can manage to become good friends. I can totally imagine them laughing and poking fun at Duncan for some reason. Really glad you liked the boat scenes….and the vomit. The vomit jokes are my favorite part of Total Drama. I just can't believe they can get away with some of the jokes and antics they **

**Zimmera: Yes, swearing fits in the confessional are always a joy to do. I'm very happy you loved the last chapter and the couple's realizations about their feelings. Hopefully, this chapter will be just as good. It'll definitely be way more difficult trying to keep them in character while making them act romantically towards one another.**

**Princess Absahail: It makes me smile so much to hear that. Thanks for the awesome compliment!**

**Now on with the story!**

* * *

Chris McLean let out a blissful sigh and leaned back on his armchair, closing his eyes as his several very beautiful make-up attendants preened and gushed over him. He was getting ready for the million dollar reward ceremony occurring in a mere two hours' time which he would be hosting.

"I tell you Cathy," the egotistic host spoke with his brunette assistant as she applies some blush on his cheek, "I bet I'll be nominated for a Gammy for this performance tonight! Everyone's going to be watching my shining hour!"

"My name's Sarah." the pretty brunette said with a frown. "And won't this be that Duncan kid's shining hour? I mean, it's all about him getting the million dollars. You're just handing it to him."

Chris opened his eyes and narrowed them into a glare at the makeup artist. "Hey, hey! I pay you to make me pretty, not to offer any support for my contestants! Now add more blush, Cathy!" he ordered pointing to a spot on his cheek, "You missed a spot!"

Sarah brushed the blush stick over Chris' eyes.

"OW! OW! OW! THAT STUFF BURNS!"

At that moment, there was a timid knock on the door; without waiting for permission, Billy, Chris' intern, stuck his blonde head in.

"Mr. McLean?" asked Billy, his voice quiet and wary.

Angrily pushing the offending blush stick away from his face, Chris turned his head towards the door and angrily growled, "What is it? Didn't I tell you not to disturb me during my preening time?"

The intern's face paled as he stammered nervously, "It's a couple of the c-c-contestants. T-They have a p-p-problem and w-w-want to talk to you, sir."

Chris gave a loud, exasperated sigh. "Fine, bring them in."

Billy hastily withdrew and, a few seconds later, Bridgette strode through the door, followed by Gwen, Geoff, and LeShawna. The four had wanted to bring in Harold as well, but hadn't been able to find him.

Letting out a large yawn, Chris airily waved a hand for the young teens begin. "Okay, what is it? Can you guys make it quick? I have a show to host in two hours."

Bridgette gave a backwards glance at her friends, who all nodded their heads in support and approval, and turned back to face Chris.

"You have to cancel tonight's show." The surfer girl calmly said.

There was a shocked silence in the dressing room following the demand. Then Chris let out a loud, insulting laugh.

"Hoho, that's a good one, Bridgette! Who says the goody-goods can't come up with a good joke? Oh, yeah…ME!" Chris adopted an annoyed expression and said, "For real, tell me what you want and get out of here! I don't have all day!"

LeShawna gave a small growl, pushed Bridgette aside, and thrust her furious face into Chris'. "Listen up gramps! Nature girl here ain't playing around and neither are we! This big bucks ceremony can't go down tonight!"

"Why not?" Chris demanded leaning forward so that LeShawna would back off.

"Because the guy getting the million dollars isn't the one that should be getting it!" Gwen exclaimed.

Chris shook his head in a disapproving manner. "Gwen, I can honestly say that I'm surprised at you…at all of you actually! You guys are almost adults! I mean, I know you four are probably bitter at Duncan for winning, but I'd didn't think you'd be such a bad sportsmen that you'd want to stop his reward ceremony."

"That's not the reason at all!" Gwen cried in frustration.

"I mean, really, it's your own fault for getting voting off." Chris continued.

"No, you don't understand. What we mean is…"

"Of course, you could have probably gotten into, at least, seventh place, if you hadn't been practically drooling over Duncan and ignoring Trent…" chided the host, smirking as Gwen's face got angrier and angrier.

The Goth girl finally let out a shriek of outrage and would have pounced on Chris to scratch his eyes out if Geoff hadn't quickly gotten a hold of her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Whoa, calm down, Gwen." Said Geoff trying to calm Gwen down as she struggled, reaching her arms out to viciously claw at Chris' infuriatingly smug face.

"That's not the only reason, though." Bridgette said to Chris. "Courtney is missing. You can't have the reward show with all the contestants, right?"

"Wrong!" Chris cheerfully said. "The ceremony is just going to focus on the winner of Total Drama Action- namely, the delinquent. Hollywood always does love seeing a bad boy in the spotlight." Chris added, winking at the make-up girl. Turning his attention back to the other, he said, "The rest of you guys will just be witnessing it in the audience. If the viewers don't see Courtney, they'll just assume that the camera missed her. No biggy."

"Don't you care at all that she's missing?" LeShawna angrily demanded, poking a finger at his chest.

Chris gave a good-humored chuckle. "Uh, no? After Heather, Courtney's my least favorite contestant! That girl's a pain in the butt!" Seeing the sad expression on Bridgette's face and the glowering ones on everyone else's, the host added, "Jeez, relax! She's probably off in a corner pouting about Duncan or whining about not winning…or off having a meeting with her lawyers to sue the show for some reason."

Thinking that that was a good, reasonable answer to the teens' worries, Chris gave a relaxed sigh and leaned back in the chair. Eyes closed, the host gave the four teens a dismissive wave the hand.

"If that's all, you guys can shuffle off now. I have a show to get ready for!"

Fuming with anger and indignation, the three girls and one boy were herded out of the dressing room by Billy. The intern at least had the decency to look apologetic towards the teens as he shut the door behind them.

LeShawna gave a weary sigh. "Well folks that definitely could have gone better."

"Can you believe the nerve of that guy?" Gwen angrily spat, glaring. "Duncan and I are just friends! He's just dying to get rumors started about me!"

Bridgette stared forlornly down the hotel hallway and sadly asked, "So what do we do now? Chris doesn't believe us and the ceremony is in two hours. There's no way we can find Duncan and Courtney by then."

"I'll tell you what we're going to do!" LeShawna said in a powerful voice, raising a finger in the air. "We are going to march straight up into the witch Heather's room and threaten her until she tells the truth and changes Duncan back to Justin and spiders back to delinquents and prissy white girls!"

"That sounds great, but dude, if Heather and Justin were able to change Duncan and Courtney into spiders, can't they do the same to us?" Geoff rather reasonably put in.

Gwen and Bridgette exchanged nervous glances. "Didn't think of that." Gwen admitted.

LeShawna gave a fearful shudder. "Say what? Ooooh no! LeShawna ain't going to become some horrible creepy-crawly!" Spiders were the black girl's worst fear.

"I guess," LeShawna continued, "We're just going to have to hope that Harold and his crew have a plan up their sleeves for the ceremony."

"You really think dorky dude's going to come up with something?" Geoff asked, looking as unconvinced as Gwen and Bridgette at the idea.

"Now listen here," LeShawna furiously said, "when Harold sets his mind on doing something, no matter how ridiculous or stupid it is, then he's going to do it! If my Harold's promised to help Duncan and Courtney, then you can bet your cowboy hat that he WILL help them! No ifs, buts, maybes, coulds, mights or I-think-so's about it! GOT IT?"

Under the strong-willed woman's intimidating glare, none dared to disagree.

* * *

Down on the river, the first hours of night had fallen. The sky was a clear, dark blue, littered with thousands of stars that twinkled like fireflies. A full moon hung up against the sable sky, gazing at its water reflection on the river's surface. The Boat of Losers slowly trudged along the waterway, sending out puffs of black smoke at its wake.

"Duncan, I demand that you uncover my eyes this instant!" Courtney demanded, frowning in irritation. She could almost see the signature smirk on Duncan's face as he continued to blindly lead her down the flat railing of the boat. His front legs were covering her eyes and while his middle set of legs had a firm hold of her own front legs, guiding her.

As Courtney had imagined, Duncan was smirking. "And ruin the surprise? I thought chicks liked this sort of stuff."

"Oh, we do." Courtney teasingly confirmed. "But when you're all alone at night in the middle of the forest being blindly led by a felon, miles away from people to hear you screaming, one can't help but think that this surprise is going to end with 'and she was never heard from again.'"

"You're missing the part about having a hockey mask and chainsaw." Duncan chuckled.

"Seen it, survived it." Laughed Courtney as she felt herself being lifted up to a high place by Duncan's strong arms.

The two tarantulas came to a stop. Duncan uncovered Courtney's eyes and asked, "Well, have you ever seen this?"

The sight before her uncovered eyes made Courtney gasp and clap her two front legs together in surprised delight.

Duncan had led her to the top of the sheltered box where the wheel of the boat was located, the highest point of the boat where they could clearly see the gliding river, its dark surface reflecting every star in the sky. A few inches in front of her, Courtney saw an overturned soda can with a white piece of tissue over it making it look like a white-clothed table. A single candle stick was burning next to the make-shift table. The entire scene was, overall, a very romantic gesture.

"What is this?' Courtney asked, staring at the lovely scene in confusion.

"It's nothing," Duncan coolly replied with a shrug, trying not to look too pleased, "Just a little something to celebrate our last night of having eight legs and spidy powers."

Courtney glanced over at her male companion and held back a giggle. "Duncan, what is that!"

There was a large black moth on Duncan's neck, acting out the part of a bowtie. Duncan looked very uncomfortable at Courtney's notice.

"What's what?' asked Duncan, trying to pretend that the insect wasn't there. The mohawked tarantula took a quick glance below deck where Molotov and Bunneh were spying on the couple.

The bowtie moth had been the Russian bear's idea. "To win her, you must be a gentleman!" the bear had proclaimed earlier much to Duncan's discomfort. Right now, Molotov was smiling and giving Duncan a thumb up with one clawed paw. Bunneh was frowning, shaking his head, and giving Duncan a thumb down.

Duncan felt that Bunneh's opinion counted for once.

Duncan feigned surprise and pointed to the moth on his neck. "Oh, you mean this? Uh, I don't know how it got there!" He ripped the black moth off his neck. "Get off me!"

"Hey, wait! You said you'd pay me…" the black moth squeakily complained before Duncan gave the insect a hasty kick to the behind that sent it shooting off.

Down below, Molotov gave a disapproving frown while Bunneh gloatingly stuck his tongue out at the bear.

"Forget that ever happened and let's eat!" Duncan urged, grinning as he led Courtney to the soda can table.

"You actually found something to eat?" Courtney asked, hopeful at the prospect. Her stomach growled its own opinion. She and Bunneh's little fishing trip had been a failure- they hadn't gotten as much as a wriggle. Courtney now wished that she had joined Duncan in eating Chef's gumbo, even if the dish did have Duncan's entire head disgustingly submerged in it.

"You bet!" Duncan cheerfully replied as he pulled out the main dish from behind the candle. As it was revealed, Courtney's excited expression changed into one of disbelief.

"Cheese Puffs?" cried Courtney, not bothering to disguise her annoyance.

"What? You seemed to like them during the murder challenge!" Duncan countered, smirking at the irritable expression on her face at the sight of the orange, round snacks.

"Seriously?" Courtney asked, cocking an eyebrow and glaring.

"O-kay…" Duncan finally admitted, "_**AND**_ they were the only things I could find on the boat. We're on the Boat of Losers, Sweetlegs, not the Chris' first-class yacht."

"Well, it's definitely not the most extravagant of dates." Courtney snobbishly remarked. At the look on Duncan's face, she added in kinder tones, "but the view is wonderful, the gesture was nice, and I'm in good company at least."

"Really?" Duncan exclaimed in lustful tones, scooting closer to his companion.

Courtney realized what she had said and hastily corrected herself, "I-I mean I would be in good company if Molotov was here!"

Down below, Molotov shot Bunneh a triumphant look and growled, "HA!"

An awkward silence fell on the tarantula couple as they struggled to think of something to say to one another. They were beating around the bush, knowing what they wanted to admit to one another, but each too proud to be the first to say it. And perhaps, too afraid to know what the other might say in return.

"You know, I'm actually surprised you remembered how much I liked cheese puffs." Courtney said, toying around with her large snack and smiling at the thought.

"I remember a lot of stuff about you, Princess." Duncan said, "You've left quite a mark on me, you know. Sometimes an extremely painful mark," He gave a grimace of pain, "Many…many…painful marks." Duncan shuddered when he remembered all the times Courtney had exerted her wrath upon him, particularly his unmentionables.

Duncan shook off the painful groin-filled memories, and faced Courtney, grinning dreamily with hooded blue eyes. "It's amazing cause I've dated tons of girls…"

"_Tons?_" Courtney growled, smile slipping off in exchange for an annoyed scowl.

Duncan instantly saw his mistake. "Well,...uh…like three…or four….._ten_…" he stammered trying to sooth Courtney before her anger rose.

"Look," Duncan finally said, "what I'm trying to say here is that, you're not like any other girl I've ever met before. You're tough and sweet at the same time. It's like you're one of the guys from juvie!"

"WHAT?" cried Courtney, eyes wide with shock and anger at the statement.

"No!" Duncan quickly added, "I mean, you're obvious not like a guy from juvie! More like one of the girls in juvie!"

Courtney stared at him with a dangerous expression smoldering on her pretty face.

"Okay, not from juvie! Look, you're just different!" Duncan finally burst out, throwing his arms up in frustration, not trusting himself to correct anything else at the prospect of screwing up more. "And that's why…" Duncan paused, voice suddenly dying inside his throat. "And that's why…" he struggled to get the words out.

"And that's why…" Courtney urged, staring at him strangely. Duncan wasn't a person to be lost for words.

The delinquent took a deep breath and summoned up hidden courage.

"And that's why, Court, I…."

Courtney suddenly jumped up, a delighted expression shining on her face as she pointed at a far off object over Duncan's shoulder.

"Look!" She cried, loosing interest in what Duncan was about to say. Her dark eyes were merry as she capered past Duncan and to the very edge of the roof. She pointed into the forthcoming horizon where several brightly colored lights were flashing against the inky darkness.

"It's the studio set!" Courtney happily cried, seating herself on the roof's edge, six of her brown, olive-striped legs dangling over the edge. "We're almost there!"

Duncan settled himself next to Courtney, quickly hiding the look of disappointment off his face as he replied, "Yeah, that's great!"

"There's the water tower from the fairy tale and spy challenge!" Courtney said, her voice gaining excitement as she pointed out all the sights familiar to both her and Duncan. "And there's the big stage where the Gilded Chris ceremony was!"

Duncan gazed closely at the outside auditorium, his face grave. That was where tonight's ceremony would be. "It doesn't look like the reward ceremony's started yet." he remarked. Though the lights were on, Duncan could see that there would only a few contestants in the audience at the moment and Chris was nowhere to be seen.

There was still time to fix things.

The mohawk tarantula jumped when he felt something soft and warm lean on his shoulder. Duncan looked down to see Courtney leaning on him, still gazing out at the abandoned film lot.

"Soon we'll be back to normal," Courtney said, closing her eyes in blissfully and snuggling close to Duncan. "And we'll both have our money."

Duncan felt his heart race at her closeness. He hesitantly placed a front leg over her shoulder as they both gazed over at the film lot. "What are you going to do with your half of the money?" he asked.

"Save it for law school of course!" Courtney said with pride ringing in her voice. "I'm going to be a very successful lawyer in the future."

Duncan chuckled. "For some reason, I can totally believe that, Ms. Argumentative."

"Don't laugh," Courtney scolded in mock anger, "Something tells me you'll be in desperate need of a good lawyer in the future, Mr. Delinquent!"

"Know where I can find one?" Duncan jested.

"Yes, but it depends on how well you pay." Courtney teased, turning her head to face Duncan.

"Let her know that I pay quite well." Duncan countered, leaning his face closer to Courtney's.

"How well?" Courtney whispered, finding her face being drawn closer and closer to Duncan's.

"Let's find out." Duncan gently said, as they both closed their eyes and leaned close to one another, lips puckered.

_**Scceeeccchhhh!**_

The Boat of Losers came to a crashing halt as it rammed into the dock of the film lot. The force of the sudden stop sent both Duncan and Courtney flying on the hard, wooden dock. The two spiders picked themselves up, Duncan letting out colorful swears as he did so; both were muttering and complaining in anger and frustration at, once again, being interrupted from a kiss.

"LAND HO!" Bunneh loudly shouted from the boat.

"You're supposed to tell us that before we hit land!" Courtney snapped, patting her brown hair down.

Bunneh hopped down from the crashed and slowly sinking Boat of Losers, onto the dock area. It was the same place where the submarine challenge at been during Total Drama Action. He didn't stop to make sure that Duncan and Courtney were all right.

"Can't talk now!" Bunneh shouted over his shoulder. "Have to go find DJ and take care of that no-good, spotlight-stealer of a rabbit! Meet you guys back at the stage!" The bunny hurriedly dashed away and out of sight before Duncan or Courtney could say a word edgewise.

Duncan turned to Courtney and said, "I'd better go too."

Courtney gave him a puzzled look. "Why?"

"You stay here with Molotov while I hurry and go find Harold so they he can get Beth for us. It'll be faster if I go look for him myself." Duncan explained, backing away from Courtney towards the bushes.

"Hold up, don't you think it'd be safer if we both go?" Courtney argued.

"I can take care of myself!" Duncan said his voice growing fainter as he crawled swiftly into the bushes. "Just stay here until I get Harold!"

And then he was gone, leaving Courtney alone on the dock and simmering with irritation at his and Bunneh's sudden depart.

"Honestly, those two are too alike for my liking!" Courtney seethed, crossing her front legs over her chest. The wooden dock creaked and groaned beneath her feet as Molotov climbed on and lumbered towards Courtney.

"Why so upset, my pretty little _Shishka_?" The old Russian bear asked in joyous tones to the young tarantula woman. "I would think that you'd be very happy right now!"

"I won't be happy until this own thing is over and Duncan and I are human again." Courtney said, frowning and staring off into the bushes, feeling quite concern for Duncan at the moment.

"Really?" Molotov asked, looking down at the little brown and purple tarantula, "Not even after what Duncan said to you?"

Courtney turned her attention away from the bushes and towards the massive brown bear. "What do you mean?" she asked, sounding confused.

Molotov shook his shaggy head, blinking. "You mean _Bratka _did not tell you yet? The little _dorak_…"

"Tell me what?" Courtney urgently asked, staring up at the giant creature.

The grandfather-like bear shook a scolding claw at the girl. "_Net_! If _Bratka _has not yet told you, then it is not my place."

Courtney jumped on top of Molotov's snout and whined in his face. "TELL ME!" she demanded in the same vicious tone she usually reserved for ordering Chris around with.

Molotov chuckled and plucked the spider girl off his muzzle. "Such a feisty temper! How you get along well in my country! Fine, I shall tell you."

* * *

Not a single contestant bothered to look down as they made their way to take a seat in the benches surrounding the stage. Many were too busy talking to their friends and fellow cast mates to take any notice of the small black and tan colored arachnid that scurried beneath seats.

Duncan's teal eyes peeled through the grassy, crowded area, recognizing many familiar faces but not the one he wanted to see. Looking through the narrow spaces of the benches, Duncan could see that Lindsay and Beth were sitting next to one another, probably chatting up a storm. His stomach quenched at the thought of what was coming up between him and Beth so he turned away. Trent was sitting behind the two girls. Sadie and Katie were sitting behind Trent. Duncan could hear their futile attempts at flirting with the raven-haired guitar boy. The delinquent's lip curled in an amused sneer at the sight.

Turning away, Duncan looked at the other set of benches opposite of the set he was currently hiding under. He saw Geoff and Bridgette on the top row, sitting along side of Cody and Noah. For once, the couple wasn't making out, but instead looked quite worried. The same could be said for Gwen and LeShawna who were seated next to Izzy and Ezekiel.

For a second, Duncan felt the urge to scamper over to Gwen. He knew that if she was a reliable friend and would help him and Courtney. However, he knew that his appearance would probably cause the rest of the contestants to panic, especially LeShawna who was deadly afraid of spiders.

"Where's Heather and Justin at?" he quietly wondered out loud. Then he saw them.

Heather glided forward with a smug expression on her cruel face, her long black hair swaying as it pushed by some nonexistent breeze. Hooked arm in arm with Heather, came Justin.

Duncan clenched his teeth and glared, blood boiling with rage as he watched Justin strut forward in a body identical to his own human one. To make matters worse, Duncan heard the other contestants begin whispering to each other scandalously about seeing Heather and Justin-Duncan together.

"Like I'd ever go out with someone like her!" Duncan spat, narrowed eyes burning with fury at the sight.

So great was his anger that Duncan forgot finding Harold and began to scurry towards Heather and Justin, who were seated in the front benches. He had full intentions on seeing how well tarantula venom actually worked on his look-alike when a large shadow suddenly fell over him.

Duncan only had time to let out a frightened gasp as darkness swept over him like a hunting night predator. In only a moment's span, the poor tarantula was trapped by darkness and as helpless as the weakest little gnat caught in a vicious spider's web.

* * *

"Alas, Evangline also did say that I am a terrible gossip." Molotov good-naturedly grumbled. He looked down at Courtney, grinning widely as if bursting to unleash a delightful secret.

"Duncan is in love with you, _Shishka_!" the bear burst out, unable to help himself any longer.

Courtney stared up at the massive bear, eyes wide with complete shock at the news.

"What do you mean?" Courtney finally stuttered, blinking once in astonishment at the unexpected news.

"What do you think it mean, my dear?" Molotov exclaimed, looking happy enough for the both of them. "He is in love with you! You are his heart's companion! The star in his eyes! The one female that he wishes to spend eternity with!"

Courtney recoiled back from the bear as emotions came flooding through her at his words- surprise…disbelief…happiness…love. Placing a front leg over her racing heart, Courtney stared out in front of her trying to understand the wonderful feeling spreading through her.

"He actually said he loved me?" she quickly asked, not daring to believe what she was hearing. "He didn't just say that he _liked_ me or even worse," she imitated his voice and mannerism, "say that she totally has the _hots_ for me?" she resumed her normal voice, "Or something along those lines?"

Molotov shook his head, smirking. "Not little _Shishka_. He told me that he loved you. That's why we set the date up, so that he could tell you."

"He loves me…" Courtney whispered in a daze, a smile spreading across her face. At that instant, it felt as if a warm ray of sunlight had embedded itself inside Courtney's heart. Romantic fantasies flashed before her eyes showing her visions of her and Duncan going on dates, kissing and hugging, him whispering sweet nothings into her ear, an older version of her and Duncan standing at a wedding alter, then a older version of herself, dressed as a lawyer ushering too little kids, one boy and one girl, each looking like a perfect mix of her and Duncan, into a quaint living room shouting loving, "Coming in kids! Your daddy's on television!"….

At that part of the romantic fantasies, Courtney immediately slapped herself in the face.

"NO!" She shouted, berating herself, "pull yourself together Courtney! You will not become a drooling, lovey-dovey like Beth!" Courtney took a deep breath and said with great reserve and calmness, "I will take this news and act upon it in a serious and mature manner for one like myself."

Molotov watch, smirking, as Courtney tried to be still and act cool and calm. However, the effect was too much for her. Before Courtney help herself, she had let out a shriek of happiness and leaped into the air, giggling with joy.

"HE LOVES ME!" The spider girl cried, hugging Molotov's muzzle as she laughed, brimming with happiness. "And I love him!"

"Then you better go tell him!" Molotov softly rumbled, his voice muffled as Courtney continued to hug his large snout.

Courtney needed no further persuasion. The girl tarantula tore herself away from her giant friend and raced through the bushes with Molotov right behind her.

Though she had no idea where Duncan had headed, she didn't care. Right now, her heart was kindled with the warmth of love and she felt as if she was walking on air. Her short brown hair flowed behind her as she scurried forwards to look for her true love.

"So that's why he was so nervous during our date!" Courtney brightly mused, pushing leafy branches aside as she made her way through the thick bush. "He had wanted to tell me his feelings! And here I thought he was in love with Gwen!" she laughed, realizing now how foolishly jealous she had been.

"Or even worse, in love with Heath…" The name died on her lips as she finally pushed her way through the last of the bushes and fully saw the stage where the ceremony was.

She stared aghast at a sight that made her breath catch in her throat

"No…." Courtney whimpered, shaking her head disbelief and horror, "Please, no!"

Before her eyes, was Duncan, transformed back to human, handsome and smirking in triumphant with Heather wrapped in his arms.

* * *

**Haha! THE STORY IS ALMOST COMPLETE! I can't wait to get to the climax scenes! Lots of action and drama coming up! As well as my favorite Justin scene ever. Since lots of reviewers have said that they liked Justin in the story, I would like you guys to know that he will be a character in my other cross over story. He will be replacing Snotlout. **

**Anywho, since the story is coming to a close soon, I would like to say that at the end of the story, I will have a bonus chapter that will be a Q&A with the author. I will answer any questions that you guys have about the story. You can start submitting any questions you have now along with your review. **

**As always, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Please Read and Review!**


	18. Loser Consolation Reward!

**Author's Notes: Give a hip-hip-HOORAY for Gwen and Courtney beginning to form a friendship in World Tour! WWWOOOOOOOOOOTTTTT! Finally, one of the things I've wanted to see in this season has slowly begun to happen. Too bad it's probably all going to fall apart at the DxG kiss. Damn it. I seriously need to finish this story before that happens because I know that when it happens I'll be too angry at Duncan to even type his name down. Cheating on my favorite character, how dare he!**

**Okay, back to the story discussion…**

**Let's see, after this chapter there should be about four chapters left. Jeez, I'm going to miss this story so much. I really want to finish it before I move into college in September. **

**Well, on with the some review replies!**

**CarmillaD: It's true that Heather might be behind the kiss to break up Gwen and Courtney. Right now, it's obvious that she's on thin ice with the two. If Gwen and Duncan got together, then Heather would have both Courtney AND Cody on her side. Can't forget Cody's little crush on Gwen. I still hope that, by the end, everything will work out for our favorite CIT and Goth team.**

**Anywho, I'm glad you liked the adaptations as well as Molotov. He's such a sweetheart to write especially compared to the rest of the cast. Don't start suffering yet! There's still a couple more chapters to go…**

**DramaRose13: Thanks for the notice on the PMs. Courtney squealing with joy was my favorite part of the chapter too.**

**Ribbonfly: Thanks for the congrates! Animation is my top major, but I might change it to Sequential Art (storyboarding and comics) or Film and Television. It just depends on where my talents lie at the end of freshmen year. As for your story comments- I'm really not sure what you would pay moths with; originally, the moth was going yell out "But you paid my twenty bucks…!" before Duncan kicked him away, but I remembered that Duncan didn't have any money with him and changed the Yes, my goal was to make Duncan say the most awkward thing I could think of which is tough because Duncan isn't an awkward, romantic guy like Geoff or Trent. I'm glad the line I put in actually worked out.**

**Now enjoy the latest drama-filled chapter!**

* * *

Not everyone was in such a deep state of distress as Duncan, Courtney, and those unfortunate few who knew the unbelievable truth of the magical conspiracy that had gradually unfolded in these last two days. Of course, if some of the other contestants had known about the elaborate scheming revolved around Heather, Justin, Duncan, and Courtney then there was still a good chance that they would not be in a state of distress simply because they did not give a rat's ass about those four people to begin with. There were actually quite a few people in that category.

Tyler was one of those few people.

It was not that Tyler was a heartless or cold person but merely because he, despite being on the same team as Duncan and Courtney, the talentless jock had not formed any sort of bond or friendship with either of his two teammates during his stay on the show nor did he clash much with Heather and Justin. The only person on the show that Tyler had really forged any deep-rooted bond to was with his beautiful, naïve Lindsay. Lindsay, despite her lack of smarts, was truly the girl of Tyler's dreams and was, hopefully, still saving a seat for him next to her at the award ceremony that was about to start.

_**Knock! Knock!**_

Tyler banged a fist forcefully on the hotel room, whining in an impatient voice to the person preoccupied in the room, "DJ! Hurry up! The ceremony's about to start!"

"Hold your horses, man! I'm almost done." the Jamaican-Canadian teen replied loudly, but not in an unfriendly way. It would take a lot more than door-banging and whining to get a gentle giant like DJ riled up. Right now, DJ was currently finishing up one of his favorite pastimes...

Shamelessly doting on his pet bunny.

DJ set down the brush that he had been gently brushing his beloved pet's grey fur with and set the tiny creature down on the pillow of his bed. Giving the adorable rabbit a loving smile, DJ affectionately cooed, "I'm sorry Bunny, but Chris said no pets allowed at the ceremony but don't worry, I'll be back as soon as it's over!"

There came more knocking. "Come on man! I need to get there before Lindsay forgets who I am and gives my seat to Justin!" Tyler whined pleadingly.

"Man, when has that ever happened?" DJ asked his friend and roommate from behind the door with a scoff.

There was a slight pause. Then, "About five times!"

In the room, DJ gave a sigh of agreement and slowly and reluctantly exited the room, leaving behind his pet Bunny. He grumbled to his ex-teammate, "I don't see why you're worried. I haven't seen a trace of Justin all day!"

As the two friends walked down the hallway to make it to the theater where the reward ceremony was going to be heard, Tyler answered rather exaggeratingly, "That's because he's just waiting for a chance to snatch Lindsay away from me! You saw how all over her he was in this season!"

As the pair turned a corner into the elevator, DJ shook his head. "Man, you're becoming as paranoid Trent."

As the elevator closed, both boys missed a small, grey, long-eared creature exit the elevator, hopping unseen between their legs. Bunneh's overly-large eyes were narrowed with focused determination as he hopped his way towards DJ's room.

Paws clenched into tiny fist, Bunneh let out a deep throated "HI-YAH!" and hopped up, kicking the door with all his might. The door flew open, revealing the shadowy silhouette of a very pissed off Bunneh.

"Now…" Bunneh growled, his expression dark with wrath as he stomped into the room, "Whoever that's son of a jackrabbit that stole _MY_ human and stole _MY_ spotlight on the show, you better speak up right now!" Glancing, around, Bunneh spotted the other bunny taking a snoozing on the bed, curled up on DJ's white pillow.

"Hey Long-Ears!" shouted Bunneh up to the dozing rabbit on the bed, "GET DOWN HERE SO I CAN KICK YOUR TAIL ALL THE WAY TO ALBUQUERQUE!"

The bunny on the bed slowly opened its eyes and shot the individual on the floor a look of snobbish disdain.

"My name," the bunny said in a voice clearly feminine, "is Bunn_ie_, not Long-Ears, you noisy, piece of vermin!"

A noise similar to that of a record being scratched instantly sliced through Bunneh's mind, cutting off all further thoughts. His long ears flopped toward the ground and his large pupils shrunk down to tiny, black pinpoints as he stared up at the other rabbit in a state of shock. His jaw had all but dropped to the floor.

"Ahh…You….DJ…urrr….ahhhh….wha…giggity…."

It was at that moment that the truth was made clear- neither Duncan nor DJ had any stinking clue how to tell a boy or girl rabbit apart.

* * *

Bunneh was not the only creature in a state of complete shock at the moment. For Courtney, time itself seemed to have frozen over. Was it only seconds that ticked by as Duncan and Heather strutted forward, arm in arm, smiling as if they were the happiest couple in the world? Even so, Courtney knew the image would burn in her mind and heart for a lifetime.

"How could you?" the girl whispered to Duncan though she knew he couldn't hear. After all they've been through…after everything he had done for her and she for him…after all that he transformed back to human without her? And went with Heather?

As Duncan and Heather took a seat next to each other in the benches, Courtney placed a front leg over her heart, feeling it crack beneath her touch. Flooded with her own sadness and jealousy, the purple and brown tarantula didn't even hear Molotov as he approached. He towered behind her, watching the entire scene with black eyes stretched with surprise.

"This can not be." He growled in complete disbelief at what he and Courtney were seeing. "My old eyes must be pulling tricks on me! _Bratka _cannot be…"

"But he is!" Courtney snapped, whirling around and tilting her head upwards to glare up at the bear, "Turns out, he didn't need Beth to change back! He found himself another princess instead!" A lump had risen in the back of her throat at the word 'princess'.

Molotov shook his brown, shaggy head, not believing a word of it. "_Net_! _Shishka_, Duncan would not…"

"Stop calling me that! No more nicknames!" Courtney cried, waving her front legs in fury. Hearing Molotov's affectionate pet name for her only reminded her of the ones Duncan immaturely used- Sweetlegs, Sunshine, Princess…

She bowed her head. The lump in the back of her throat became too painful to swallow.

Molotov raised one paw and reached out to gently raise Courtney's chin so that the little spider was looking up at him. "My little Courtney, do not despair. What you and I have seen…well…that has to be some explanation. It is as my dear Evangeline always says…"

Courtney jerked around from Molotov's, eyes narrowed into angry slits. All the sorrow, disbelief, and anger inside of her erupted as she spat out hatefully at the kind bear, "Oh will you shut up and get a reality check? Evangeline isn't real, Molotov!" She furiously threw her front legs up towards the night sky, gesturing towards the stars. "She's nothing more than a bunch of stars a million miles away! She doesn't even look like a bear for goodness sakes! She's a dipper! A BIG FRINKING DIPPER! Nothing else!"

In a sad, forlorn voice, the bear said, "You do not really mean that."

"YES I DO!" With a sharp cry of outrage, Courtney turned away from bear, not daring to look at his face, and began to crawl away, saying spitefully, "Forget Duncan, I'll find a way to change back on my own!"

Molotov got up to follow her. "I shall help you."

"NO!" Courtney cried, voice still iced with fury. "I don't need your help! I don't need Bunneh's help and I don't need Duncan's help or anyone else's! I've learned my lesson!" She continued talking, ignoring the stinging in the back of her eyes or how misty her vision was becoming. "Teaming up with others doesn't help you at all! It doesn't get you a million dollars! It doesn't help you win on the debate team! And most of all…" her next words came out in a strangled sob, "it doesn't make you happy!"

Not able to trust herself to not cry, Courtney began to crawl as fast as she could away from her giant friend.

"No, _Shishka_! Wait!" the bear called, urging to allow him to help.

"Go away!" Courtney cried, unable to bear being near the compassionate creature, especially after the hurtful things she had said to him. Why couldn't he just hate her like everyone else? Suddenly, a shadowy figure swooped down like a hawk and snatched the female tarantula in its grasp. Courtney only had enough time to let out a scream before she was airborne.

"_COURTNEY_!" Molotov let out a snarl of outrage before launching himself, claws extended and ready to kill, at the shadow being that had Courtney in its talon-like fingers…or at least her shadow.

The shadow being hissed and speedily floated away from the open theater, heading towards where the hotel was. Molotov was right on its trail, shaking the earth beneath his paws as he ran. Anger and protectiveness for his smaller friend caused a dramatic change to overcome the bear. With black eyes narrowed and teeth bared, he looked every inch a primitive killing machine. Even the demonic shadow creature felt a unfamiliar sense of fear as the beast pursued him across the lawn.

Still holding a struggling Courtney in its grasp, the shadow spirit slipped through the glass doors of the hotel. Molotov slammed through the glass doors with enough force to have them slam into the walls and shatter into a million, jagged pieces.

"Yo German bear!" yelled out a familiar, obnoxious voice. Bunneh, oblivious to the kidnapping that had taken place, hopped over to his large friend with a dopey, love-struck grin on his face.

"It's Russian." Molotov growled. He snarled as he caught sight of the shadow disappearing up the emergency stairway. Lips curled back to reveal deathly fangs, Molotov bolted after the shadow in a surprisingly swift manner for one of his mass. Still not realizing what was going on, Bunneh hopped after him.

"Dude, Moli, you would not believe what just happened!" Bunneh said delightedly as he hopped up the stairs step in step with Molotov.

"Really not the time!" Molotov growled.

"You know that bunny was going to beat up for stealing DJ?" continued Bunneh, completely ignoring the urgency and anger in the bear's voice.

"No." came Molotov's curt response.

"Well, she's a GIRL! And she's HOT!"

The first stairway came to an end on a small platform with a second stairway on the right. The shadow being paused at the stairway platform and hovered in the center of the wall; Molotov took that moment to attack, leaping over the remaining stairs and towards the shadow being. At the last moment, the shadow being bolt away, slithering up the second stairway to the right. Molotov crashed head-first into the wall and fell to the ground, grumbling angry oaths and rubbing his aching noggin. Bunneh, still unaware of anything amiss, hopped next to Molotov, still gossiping about his crush.

"Her name's Bunnie! And she's like, totally into me!" Bunneh excitedly said before muttering in an undertone, "Well, she didn't say so out loud…but I could tell! I mean, what chick can resist my rugged, masculine charms? I mean–" The talkative rabbit was silence by a giant paw covering his mouth and a dangerous glare from Molotov.

"Shut your buck-tooth jaws for ten second and listen, you little _dorak_!" Molotov growled in threatening tones. "Courtney is in trouble! She was captured by the evil shadow minion!"

Bunneh's eyes went with wide at Molotov's words. He pushed away Molotov's paw and cried out with outrage. "No way somebody steals one of our chicks and gets away with it!" He got into a fighting stance, hopping from footpaw to footpaw, with little fist pumping. "Where is this wiseguy? I'll show him! Thinks he can pick a fight with a little spider? Well wait til he comes fist to fist with a real mad hare!" Bunneh made a move to hop up the stairs to catch up with the shadow being, but was halted by Molotov grabbing him by the scruff of the neck.

"No! I will follow the shadow! You must go find Duncan and warn him! Tell him to hurry up and change him and _Shishka_ back already!" Molotov ordered, "Do you understand, _da_?"

"Duh is right!" Bunneh said, throwing both his left paw and ear into a salute.

Resisting an eye roll, Molotov pointed a claw and growled, "Then go!"

Bunneh went as only a rabbit could, hopping away as if a fox on chasing after his tail down the stairs.

When Bunneh was out of sight, Molotov turned and lifted his head up toward the second staircase where the shadow being had gone up. He could see the shadow-like demon at the top of the staircase, grinning evilly with Courtney still trapped in its grip.

Molotov slowly rose to legs and glared at the demon, fangs bared in a vicious growl.

"You and I have unfinished business, demon!" the bear snarled.

The shadow being narrowed its eyes as if saying, _"Bring it on!"_

With an animalistic snarl and a demonic cackle, the chase was resumed.

* * *

"Got you."

The voice that spoke did not sound as sinister as Duncan imagined it would be- actually, it sounded quite friendly and slightly relieved. After hearing such a voice and feeling the crushing pressure being lifted off his back, Duncan decided that it was probably safe enough for him to open his eyes.

Still in a cowering position, crouched down with his head buried under his arms and his butt in the air, Duncan dared to open one eye. The other three flew open in surprise at what he saw looming above him.

"Harold?" Duncan croaked in disbelief at the sight of the red-headed dork. So _he _was the one that had captured him?

"I'm proud to say the one and only!" Harold proclaimed to the tarantula cowering in the palm of his hand. The glasses-wearing teen was holding his tarantula friend safely in his hands as he stood alone in the middle of one of the hotel hallways. As soon as Harold had caught the delinquent spider, he had taken him away from Heather's or Justin's prying eyes. When he lifted Duncan to face-level, the tarantula was not hesitant in giving the nerd a hard punch to the cheek. "OW! What was that for?"

"WHAT THE CRAP? I thought you were one of Heather's shadow goons!" Duncan angrily said. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Harold sniffed and flicked the wrist of his free hand, asking, "Hey, why are my palms wet and stinky?"

Duncan fell into an embarrassed silence.

"…..it's sweat?"

Harold sniffed again. "It doesn't smell like it."

"Forget the smell!" Duncan snapped, "Look, Harold, you have to take me to Beth!"

Harold looked perplexed. "Why?"

"I have to kiss her!"

"You have to…" the dork pulled a scrunched up face of disgust. "Eeeewww! Why would you want to do that? I've kissed her before and it wasn't one of my memorable experiences. Not like with LeShawna…" he added with a lovesick sigh. Looking at Duncan he said, "If you're that desperate for a girlfriend after breaking up with Courtney, I have an older sister who's single, but I'm not really sure whether mohawks are her thing…or eight legs."

"No, it's nothing like that!" Duncan retorted, pulling a face at the thought. "I have to kiss her to change me and Courtney back to normal!"

"Why her?"

"Lame fairy tale rule about dolls and princesses."

"Oh."

"_DUNNNCANNNNN!"_

Duncan whirled around and pushed back some of Harold's fingers to see an exhausted and panting Bunneh hopping towards them.

"Bunneh? What are you doing here?" Duncan asked, looking down at the rabbit from Harold's palm. "I thought you were off kicking DJ's other bunny's ass?"

"What other bunny?" Harold asked, puzzled at why Duncan was talking to DJ's pet Bunny. "Isn't that DJ's bunny?"

"She's a chick man!" Bunneh gasped, taking in huge gulps of breath. "A hot, gorgeous chick!"

"Really?" Duncan blinked, "Okay…well, that's an odd surprise. Did you make out?"

"What's an odd surprise? Who's making out?" Harold asked. Unlike Duncan, he couldn't understand animal speech and had no idea what the rabbit was saying to Duncan.

"Not yet, but soon my brother!" Bunneh said. Then he remembered what he was there for and quickly gave his head a vicious shake, snapping into mission mode. "But that's not what I came here to tell you! There's trouble!"

Duncan's expression grew serious at the urgent, panicked tone in Bunneh's voice. "What is it?" the tarantula demanded.

"It's Courtney, dude!" Bunneh cried. Duncan's expression grew more and more horrified as the rabbit continued with his report. "Those creepy shadow things took her! Molotov chasing after them and sent me to tell you! Dude, if you're going to get smooching with that Beth girl then now's the right time to be smooching!"

"What's happening? Tell me!" Harold asked, annoyed at being left in the dark. Even he had noticed the grim expression filling Duncan's face.

"No! Saving Courtney comes before smooching!" Duncan snapped to Bunneh. He paused and added, "Unless it's Courtney I'm smooching."

"Courtney's in trouble?" Harold guessed, slowly piecing together the puzzle. "Is it Heather?"

"Heather's evil shadow minions!" Duncan said with an angry growl, slamming a fist into his other front leg.

"Evil shadow minions? Like in Silent Dark War Siege 2: Quest for Immortal Glory?" Harold wheezed before pumping his fist into the air with an excited yell. "AWESOME!" Pulling off a heroic stance with his scrawny chest puffed out and eyebrows furrowed with determination, Harold proclaimed loudly, "Do not fear, Lady Tarantula, for I, Dragon-underdash-Warlock-underdash-Apprentice345, shall go forth and rescue you like in the level 15!"

The nerd immediately tripped and fell flat on his face. Moaning, Harold raised his head up and fixed his slightly cracked glasses back into its regular position. He took a glance down to his feet and saw that they were tangled up with spider web.

"Ooww, do you really think now's the time for pranks?" Harold rather irritably asked Duncan, who had crawled up to stand in front of Harold's face.

"It's not a prank! Bunneh and I will go save Courtney ourselves." Duncan said.

Harold shook his head as he began to stand up, not understanding what Duncan was saying. "You two can't go by yourselves! Do you really think that a bunny and a spider can take on the beautifully, evil Heather and her minions?"

"I have to go!" Duncan urgently said, "I have to tell Courtney the truth in case anything happens!"

"What truth?" Harold asked with Bunneh standing by his shoes, watching Duncan curiously.

"The truth that…" Duncan faltered, feeling too embarrassed to say it in front of Harold and Bunneh. Really, this wasn't something guys are supposed to tell others guys! Only sensitive pussies like Trent did that!

The tarantula looked beyond Harold's shoulder and spotted a window that showed the clear night sky where Molotov's love Evangeline shone brightly. The delinquent swallowed hard.

"The truth that Courtney is like LeShawna is to you." Duncan said, grinning as he gazed through the glass window and into the twinkling stars. "She's my Evangeline."

Bunneh let out a loud, heart wrenching sob, bailing his eyes out. He was learning against Harold's leg and used the dork's pants to blow his nose.

"Who Evangeline?" Harold asked. "Is she hot?" he added hopefully.

Duncan chuckled. "Dude, forget it, she's_ waaaay_ too far out of your league. Seriously."

"Okay, then what do you want me to do?" Harold asked.

"You have to stall the ceremony!" Duncan said. "No matter what, make sure that Justin and Heather don't get their hands on my million! Until Courtney and I show up! And if you have a chance, explain to Beth that I have to kiss her!"

"I can't stall the ceremony." Harold said. "Justin will kill me!"

Duncan would have laughed out loud if the situation wasn't so serious and instead let out a loud scoff. "You're afraid of Justin? Dude, that guy wouldn't even touch you in case he bruised his fingertips!"

Harold shook his head in disagreement. "Not anymore! With your body, he's taken over your role as head bully! I've spent the best part of these two days hiding from him! He's ten times worth than you ever were! See!" He lifted up his shirt to reveal bruises all over his belly and chest. "I have bruises on my bruises!" He then turned his back to Duncan to show off how high his underpants were. "And this wedgie's so bad that I can taste the fabric!"

"Harsh." Commented Bunneh.

"Dude, stealing my body AND my position? Not cool!" Duncan growled, clenching his front legs into first. He addressed Harold, "Harold, you have to stall the show for me! Please!"

"How?" Harold asked in a deflated voice, looking sorrowfully down at his shoes. "I'm just a dork that nobody listens to and is the punching bag of the entire crew! How can I distract everyone before you and Courtney arrive?"

"You'll think of something! You're like a mad genius!" Duncan told his former teammate.

Harold looked up, surprised by the compliment. "I am?"

"Duh!" Duncan said grinning and giving Harold a friendly punch in the shoe. "Granted some of your ideas are pretty lame, but at least you're creative enough to come up with stuff! Forget about Justin! You may be the world's biggest dork, but you have guts! You stood up to me on life television, didn't you? That takes courage, my dorky friend! And don't let Justin or anyone else…_besides me…_tell you different! Got that?"

A smile spread across Harold's face along with an expression of keen determination. "I got it, my friend," Harold said with an air of heroic confidence, slamming a fist into the palm of his hand. "I COMPLETELY GOT IT!"

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Duncan said, swept up in the building excitement.

"WOO-HOO!" Bunneh yelled, leaping up in the air, pumping his fist, "Go Team Spider-Bunny-Dork!"

"Don't worry about the ceremony!" Harold called to Duncan and Bunneh as he sped down the hallway towards the hotel exit. "I'll handle it! You take care of Courtney!"

"You can bet on it!" Duncan yelled back. The tarantula climbed up on Bunneh's back and clung on to his friend's long, velvet-like ears. He stared on straight ahead, blue eyes narrowed and flashing with anger.

"I'm coming Princess!"

* * *

"MOLOTOV!" Courtney screamed, struggling against the unseen forces that were holding her. The dark being holding her hostage wasn't actually touching her, but somehow had a grip on her shadow. "This doesn't make sense!" she snapped. "I DEMAND TO TALK TO A PHYSIC PROFESSOR! I-" Her words were cut off by a very annoyed shadow being placing a clawed hand over her head shadow. The words coming out of her mouth were now muffled.

A boiling roar echoed through the air as massive bundle of brown fur, snapping teeth, and slicing claws came barreling down the hallway in hot pursuit of the demonic shadow.

Even the demon from a hell felt a sliver of fear at the sight of the colossal bear thundered towards it, its entire massive frame radiating in wild, untamed power and fury. Molotov's black eyes were red with blood-lust for the one responsible for stealing his friend.

The shadow demon unleashed a howl into the air and darted into one of the janitor closets in the hallway. Molotov snarled and rushed in after it. As soon as the enraged Russian bear was inside the closet, the shadow being carrying Courtney slid out and slammed and locked the door behind it.

Another shadow being came floating towards Courtney's'; it had been summoned by its companion's howl. Courtney's captor pointed at the door and screeched something to the other shadow. The new shadow being nodded and slid into the door of the janitor's closet, cloaking the door in darkness.

Despite all of Molotov's strength, no matter how many times he slammed into the closet door, the darkened door would not even budge an inch.

The shadow being holding Courtney let out a victorious cackle. It slithered away as Molotov's upset roars of anger loudly echoed behind it.

* * *

"Welcome everyone to the dramatic conclusion to Total…Drama…ACTION!" Chris yelled out, flashing a dazzling smile to the camera.

The award ceremony was now about to begin. The lights on set were on and glaring down a golden halo upon the stage, particularly on Chris, showing off how handsome the raven-haired host looked. Unfortunately, the lights also showed off some rather offensive aspects of the grand stage…

"It's a little early for Halloween, don't you think?" Noah commented with a sarcastic smirk.

Cody chuckled in agreement. "Dude, what's with all the spider webs?"

Indeed, for some reason or another, many parts of the stage were covering in large, clearly noticeable cobwebs of all shapes and sizes.

Chris scowled, secretly hoping that they hadn't been too noticeable. "Unfortunately, somebody had the idiotic idea to unleash a bunch of spiders all over the entire set…IZZY!" He glared pointedly at the insane, red-haired girl. "And insect control couldn't make it. So watch your step and try not be bitten by spiders."

LeShawna let out an ear-shattering shriek. "SPIDERS? WHERE!" She looked down and screamed. "SAVE ME!" The large-bootied girl jumped on top of Trent, crushing him and causing him to fall to the ground.

Gwen got a closer look. "Uh, LeShawna? It's just a dust bunny."

"Oh." The plump black girl shot the boy beneath her large bulk a sheepish look. "Sorry sugar."

"Ow_…my back…_Ooow_._" came the musician's muffled reply.

"Anyway…" Chris continued, shooting the interrupting teens an annoyed, shut-the-hell up look. "The reason we are all gathered here to reward one of the few not-losers here their well-suffered for reward!" He threw his arms out wide, yelling, "ONE MILLION DOLLARS!"

Not a single person clapped.

Chris continued to be frozen in that particular position for a couple seconds more, obviously waiting for applause. When none came, he pressed a button on the top of his stand and wild applause suddenly blazed out from no where. He smiled smugly, allowing the applause to go one for a minute or two before he pressed the button again and the area was, once again, silent.

"And here to claim this reward," Chris continued, holding up a large suitcase, supposedly filled with cash. Justin, disguised as Duncan, smirked and began to walk up the stage as Chris finished, "here's Dun…."

"WAIT!" Harold threw himself in between Justin and Chris, who had the money suitcase in his hand.

Everyone in the audience let out a gasp of surprise.

"Harold?" Gwen cried, unable to hide her surprise.

"YEAH HAROLD!" Izzy whooped, jumping up in her chair.

"Baby?" said LeShawna, blinking.

Heather curled her fists and growled venomously, "The dweeb!"

"Uhhh…dude?" Chris asked, glaring and slightly flinching away from the dork, still holding the metal suitcase close to his chest, "What are you doing?"

Harold stood alone in the glaring spotlight, in the middle of a stage with two glaring people on both sides of him and an audience staring up at him. Sweating nervously, Harold fumbled and stammered, darting his green eyes back and forth as he tried to think of solution.

"Uhhh…well…you see….er…" The red-haired dork rubbed the back of his neck, beads of sweat already dripping down his forehead. "We can't give out Duncan's reward until…er…" his green eyes fell on a Guilded Chris Reward and an idea sprang to life.

"Until we give out the Loser Consolation Reward!" he proclaimed.

A lapse of confused silence fell after his announcement. A cricket could be heard chirping.

"What the crap?" Noah finally said, voicing about everyone else's own opinion.

Izzy bounced off her seat and onto the stage next to Harold, pulling the dork into a tight, one-armed hug. "Duh! Of course we need to give out the Loser Consolation Reward!" Grinning like the mad-woman she was, Izzy rummaged through her…skirt…and pulled out a trophy figure, rather badly made out of twigs. "See? Isn't it beautiful? And it's in the shape of Taylor Lautner!"

Once again, there was a relapse of cricket-filled silence that was only broken by Noah, "Okay, I'll say it one more time…what the _freaking _crap?"

Gwen was the first one to catch on to Harold's plan. It was obvious that he was trying to stall the ceremony for one reason or another. Perhaps the real Duncan was on his way?

The Goth girl abruptly stood up. "Yeah!" she rather reluctantly shouted, holding a fist up. "Er… go Loser Consolation Reward?"

LeShawna stood up as well. "That's right baby! Tell us who won!"

Harold found himself grinning at LeShawna's shouts of encouragement. Ignoring Chris' annoyed grumbles, Harold swiftly turning his back to the audience, he bent down, and quickly scribbled on a piece of paper. He slipped it to Izzy, and said loudly, "My lovely assistant, Izzy, will read out the winner!"

"Just make this quick!" Chris ordered, angrily crossing his arms and glaring at the dork.

"Muewahahahah!" Izzy insanely cackled as she read out the winner, "And the winner of the Loser Consolation Reward…for having the least screen time than any other contestant in ANY season…." Izzy threw the paper and her arms up in the air and shouted.

"ZEKEY COME ON UP! WOO-HOO!"

The spotlights spun around and flashed over at Ezekiel's shocked face as colorful confetti rained over him and celebration music pounded the speakers. All the contestants slowly and unsurely clapped a few times. Two ridiculously hot and beautiful women in bikinis came down the red carpet and escorted the delightedly surprised prairie boy up the stage.

"Where the heck did all the confetti, music, and hot girls come from?" DJ asked Tyler. The jock just gave a clueless shrug.

"Hey! All that's supposed to be for Dunca…er…I mean for me!" Justin complained, angrily glaring at all the flashy celebration going on.

With tears of happiness in his eyes, Ezekiel took the twig-made statue from Izzy. "I dun't noo what to say!" the farm boy sniffled.

"Speech! Speech!" Harold shouted. The chant was taken up by everyone else in the audience.

"SPEECH! SPEECH! SPEECH!"

Izzy backed away from a large grin on her face to allow Ezekiel to take the stand.

"Go Homeschool!" Tyler shouted. On the stage, Justin crossed his arms and bitterly grumbled.

"Eh, when I first came to the shoo'w." Ezekiel tearfully began, clutching the wooden reward tightly in his hands, "I ne'ver expected to win such a rewoord!"

A piece of Taylor Launter's arm promptly fell off.

"There're so many people I want to thank, eh!" Ezekiel continued, "I'd like to thank my murther, for shelter'in me from the real world my entire life! And I'd like to thank my Pa's for making me believe gurls were inferior, eh! I'd still be in the show if it weren't for you! Whoo! I also want to thank…"

In her seat, Heather gave a pissed off growl, leaning back and folding her arms irritably across her chest. "Is this idiot going to take all night?"

Suddenly, as silent as a serpent, one of the shadow being slithered over to where Heather was and deviously whispered into her ear. An evil smile slowly spread across her face.

While everyone else was listening to prairie boy's speech, nobody noticed a certain raven-haired girl silently sneak off, with a strange shadow trailing behind her.

* * *

**You guys have no idea how long I've been waiting to write down Ezekiel saying his ridiculous speech. For me, it's one ****of the highlights of this story, no matter how stupid it is.**

**Another favorite part of mine to write was Courtney's heartbreaking speech with Molotov. Courtney really is my favorite character of the series (and not just because she's paired with Duncan). To me, she's a very admirable, well-rounded character who truly deserves more credit than she gets. It was nice to write about her different sides, even if this particular side shows her more emotional and heartbroken side. **

**And for those who don't get the Taylor Launter joke, he plays Jacob Black in the Twilight film series and for those who have read the books….well…let's just say that he needs a Loser's Consolation Reward very badly, lol.**

**Anywho, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Please read and review…especially review! You know you want toooo…..**


	19. Torn Apart and Reunited

**Author's Notes: Le sigh…only a couple more weeks before I have to start college and move out. I'm kind of worried about moving into a dorm room (though I really have no choice considering the fact that my family will be four states away). My two rooms haven't replied back to any of my emails and I'm worried to death about how I'll deal with being without my twin sister and partner in crime. She's such a big help when listening to my story ideas and comes up with quite a few good ones on her own. Even worse, what if my roommates are both Heather-clones? Ugh, why did SCAD put me in a three roommate room? And will my class leave me with any time to work on my stories?**

**Well, enough of my worrying. Just needed to write something other besides CxDxG complaints in my author's notes. Now here's some review replies….**

**Zimmera: I describe Courtney's shirt as purple because in my opinion it looks like a purple-grey color. Really glad you enjoyed the chapter, especially Zeke's speech.**

**CarmillaD: God, I hate that stupid Duncan/Gwen kiss preview. I just hope that everything is resolved in the final Aftermath before the season final. Haha, don't know why I started with Tyler- writing the beginning of a chapter is the hardest thing, and I just found myself typing something on him. I've really grown fond of the talentless jock since season 3. Bunneh is always fun write and I just HAD to pay tribute to Quagmire with his famous catchphrase- it just fit so perfectly. About Trent- I'm sorry, I love the guy, but he's just so much fun to bash. I enjoy poking fun at him almost as much as I do with Justin. That's just how I show love.**

**StaRob4ever: Thank you so much for being the only one to remark on my favorite joke in the entire chapter…perhaps the entire story. Lol.**

**DramaRose13: I mentioned this in Chapter 11: Tangled Webs- Justin does still have his own eyes and voice, even in Duncan's body. However, both Duncan and Justin have blue eyes, but Justin's has pupils in his while Duncan doesn't. Thank you for the great review!**

**Now let's see what drama lies in store in the newest chapter…**

* * *

"My doo'cter durserves a special thank yoo, eh! If it weren't for 'im saying that I needed moore sun and Vitamin D, then my Ma and Pa wooldn't have put on the shoow! Oh and my pet bull needs a thank yoo, too…"

So continued Ezekiel's seemingly never-ending thank you speech. Chris looked as if he had dozed off leaning against the wall of the stage, head down to his chest. Everyone in the audience was looking quite bored as they listened to home-school drone on and on with his endless thank-yous. DJ's eyes were drooping while Katie and Sadie were slowly nodding off. By DJ's side, Tyler let out a large yawn. Cody had out and was playing a gameboy, and Noah was reading a large book. The rest of the cast mates were just fidgeting in their seats or lazily relaxing.

Justin, disguised as Duncan, stood a few feet away from the stand where Ezekiel was making his speech. His arms were folded over his chest and his striking blue eyes narrowed in scathing glare. The handsome model may not have been the smartest bulb in the game, but even he knew that something was up. Glancing at the front row of the audience Justin saw that Heather was missing- not a good sign. He looked across the length of the stage and noticed Harold gone as well. Perhaps Heather was taking care of the ugly nerd right now? Maybe Duncan and Courtney wouldn't be the only tarantulas crawling around tonight. Justin gave a wicked chuckle at the thought and focused once again on listening to Ezekiel's speech…and trying not to fall asleep.

Justin's devious mind was right in one point- Harold was indeed crawling around at the moment, but definitely not as a tarantula. While everyone was focused on Zeke's speech, Harold had managed to silently sneak off stage. He was now crawling under the benches where all the contestants sat, searching for one particular person. Harold found her sitting beside Lindsay.

On his hands and knees, Harold cautiously crawled forward on the grassy ground, letting out a hiss, "Beth!"

The plump girl turned her head and gave a surprised downwards glance at the geek hiding beneath the benches. "Harold!"

"Sssshhhh!" Harold hushed, "Not so loud! I need to talk to you in private! Can you meet me in the bushes?"

Beth gave a girlish giggle, fanning her face in a flirting manner. "Oh, Harold!" She said his name in a disapproving manner, but looked extremely pleased. "I know you still have a crush on me, but _really_! I'm taken! We can _possibly_ sneak off every time you feel the urge to be beside me! What if Brady finds out?"

Harold was so glad that it was Duncan kissing Beth and not him.

"That's not what this is all about!" Harold snapped in a heated whisper, pulling a disgusted face. "Just follow me…_quietly_!"

* * *

Harold was not the only one having difficulties at the moment.

"YOU GUYS CAUGHT THE WRONG SPIDER!" Heather screeched angrily and threw a lamp at one of the shadow minions that hovered on the wall. It flicked away just in time before the lamp hit the wall and busted into broken shards.

Up on the shelf, the Duncan voodoo doll narrowed it evil-looking button eyes at Heather and growled softly. The voodoo dolls on either side of the Duncan doll all watched the scene down below them with keen interest.

Heather was not done ranting. "One thing! I order you goons to do one simple thing! And you manage to screw it all up!" She seethed. "How hard is it to find a talking tarantula with a green mohawk! A GREEN MOHAWK!" She repeated in a shout. Her long, raven hair rose and animatedly bristled to emphasis Heather's anger.

Breathing heavily, but momentarily done from venting, Heather slowly shifted her grey eyes around the room, thinking of a way to fix up this mess. After a moment or two of brooding, the solution made itself clear.

Heather smirked as a dark idea slithered forth, and straightened her self up. "That's alright." She announced to the shadows and voodoo dolls present, "We can fix this. Bring the prisoner out." She ordered to one of the shadow minions.

The evil shadow being slid across the walls and under the crack below the closet door. It opened the closet door from the inside and slammed it open, carrying out a jar with a trapped Courtney inside. The jaw was set on the dresser top. On the shelf that held the voodoo dolls the Courtney doll grinned evilly down at her living counterpart.

"You can leave us, now" she ordered the shadow minion. It disappeared with an irritable grunt. Heather allowed a wicked grin to spread on her face as she approached the jar. This little mistake could actually work in her favor. "Hello Courtney."

Courtney lifted her head. Any tears she had had at seeing Duncan betray her for Heather had all dried up after her outburst with Molotov. Now, she was only left with a numb anger and resentment that showed as she glared hatefully up at Heather.

"Let me out of here you evil witch!" she spat, pounding her tiny fists against the walls of the jar.

Heather placed a hand on top of the jar to steady the shaking glass. "You should really work on that temper." She taunted.

"And you should consider shock therapy!" the tarantula retorted.

Heather pointed a threatening finger at the trapped spider. "Listen you, if you want to survive this with all eight of your disgusting hairy legs, then I'd suggest a little more cooperation!" she growled.

Courtney stood defiant, unfazed by the other woman's threats. "What do you want with me!" she demanded.

"I want you as a bargaining tool." explained Heather, giddy with the genius of her plan. "Once I have the million dollars, I'll use you to make sure that Duncan says to everyone that he gave the reward money to me and never breathe a word of my scheme to anyone! Duncan will surely keep his mouth shut when he knows your life is at stake!"

"That plan will never work!" flamed Courtney, outraged that Heather was cruelly taunting her like this. Hadn't she suffered enough tonight? "Duncan doesn't care anything about me! It's you he loves!"

Heather blinked in surprised. Was this girl really that paranoid and stupid? First with Gwen and now with her? "What in the world are you talking about?"

Courtney was unbowed. "Don't play dumb! I saw you and Duncan holding hands and _CUDDLING _with each other only a few minutes ago at the ceremony! Not only that," she added in disgust, "but I know that you seduced him into coming to your room before you transformed him!"

Heather let out a wicked, mocking laugh. "HA! Please, like I would have feelings for a disgusting loser like that punk! That was Justin disguised as Duncan that I was with at the ceremony."

Shock spread across Courtney's face. "So…you weren't with Duncan at the ceremony?" she asked not sure if she was hearing right.

Heather rolled her eyes. "For the last time…NO! Like I'd ever consider dating such a dirtbag."

A warm, light feeling burst open inside Courtney's breast at Heather's words. Duncan wasn't human-he was still a spider and he still loved her, only her! Not Gwen. Not Heather. Her! The thought made Courtney smile, giddy with happiness.

"And the only reason the idiot came into my room was to try and fix his stupid love problems with you." Heather said.

The smile died on Courtney lips, and she turned her head to stare at Heather in shock. "What?"

"Yeah, I tricked him into coming in by saying that I'd help get him on your good side again since you were basically treating him like trash." Heather droned on in an uncaring manner. "Have to say, it was pretty easy. That loser's almost as big as sap as Trent when comes to love."

The warmth disappeared and Courtney inwardly crumbled at the realization. Since both of their hideous transformations, Courtney had fixed the blame on Duncan for this mess. But the truth was, the entire time it had been all her fault. Because of her and her nasty attitude during this season, Duncan had been forced to turn to Heather for help and been punished for it. Yet, the worst part of it was, that no matter how much Courtney had blamed and berated him, Duncan had never once pointed the blame at her.

Courtney covered her face in shame.

"But listen," Heather continued, pasting a false smile on her face and leaning close to the jar, "who needs saps like Duncan and Justin? Men are a fickle bunch. Who knows how long you'll be able to keep that ogre's interest before he turns his heart and money to someone else…perhaps a certain Goth?" She pointed at Courtney and then her self. "You and me, we're both strong, independent, highly intelligent women. If you cooperate with me and pretend to be the damsel in distress a little while longer, then we can split the money- just you and me, girls only!" Heather gave Courtney a sly look, hiding two crossed fingers behind her back. "What do you say?"

Courtney slowly lowered her front legs from her face. Her expression was a thoughtful one, as if she was possibly considering Heather's offer. It was true that there was no telling if Duncan would continue to share his money or his affections to Courtney in the future.

"Half a million is a lot of money…" Courtney admitted. With that money, she could pay for law school, buy a new PDA, and any guy would be willing to date her…

But none of them would ever be Duncan.

"NO!" Courtney's answer came loud and clear. The little tarantula stood and stared boldly up at her nemesis, shouting, "Never! Not in a million years! I've chosen money many times before but not this time!" As she yelled, she began to viciously pound on the jar, violently shaking it. "I may be ambitious, but I would never try anything as vile, not to mention as _pathetically desperate_, as the scheme you and Justin cooked up! I would never betray Duncan for a_** *BLEEP** BLEEEEEEEEEP***_ like you!"

The jar finally took all it could take from the furious spider contained inside of it and shattered in half. Courtney took a leap for freedom.

"Oh no, you don't!" Whether it was from Courtney's refusal or her escape, something in Heather's snapped. Incensed with rage, Heather lunged had Courtney, trapping the spider in an iron-strong grip. Cackling, Heather lifted her prisoner closet of her face.

Despite all her courageousness, Courtney felt herself tremble with fear. There was something extremely off about Heather this moment. The Asian girl's grey eyes burned with a crazed madness and her face was twisted evilly. The sable hair behind her lashed out like angry snakes.

"My plans will NOT be ruined again by some stupid, little bug!" Heather snarled, tightening her hold on the struggling purple and brown tarantula until Courtney shrieked in pain.

The voodoo dolls leaned farther on the edge of their shelf, feeding off the horrible scene below with black button eyes gleaming with evil delight.

Suddenly, a ferocious voice roared through the air like thunder.

"THE TERM IS ARACHNID, YOU STUPID BITCH!"

Heather didn't have time to fully register what happening before it was too late; the devious girl only managed to slightly turn her head and gain a shocked expression before Bunneh, standing in the doorway, launched Duncan into her beautiful face.

Heather unleashed a shriek that could shatter glass as the hideous mohawked tarantula clung to her face. Courtney was dropped unheeded to the ground as Heather used both her hands to claw at her face, trying to untangle Duncan. The delinquent's face was blazing with rage and fury as used all eight legs to scratch at Heather's face and yank at her raven hair, paying her back for kidnapping his beloved princess.

"GET OFF ME!" the unpleasant girl screeched. One large strand of her animated raven hair rose from behind Duncan and, with lightening speed, wrapped itself around the spider's neck. Duncan let out a sharp gasp as the black noose tightened, cutting off all breath.

Like a dark cobra with a mouse in its venomous jaws, the strand of hair rose, pulling Duncan up along with it. Duncan struggled, legs flailing, clawing and tugging at the suffocating hair around his throat in a vain attempt to come loose. The whites of his bulging eyes showed, and his mouth gaped helplessly for much-needed breath. With the speed and viciousness of a whip being snapped, Heather's hair lashed back and forward, throwing the tarantula.

Duncan shot through the air, across the room, and slammed against the wall with a sickening _crack_. Like a broken toy, the tarantula slid to the ground to lay there, silent and unmoving.

The sight of her former Screaming Gaffer teammate, lying as still as death, lifted the mad haze from Heather's eyes. For first time in a long while, the uncaring girl felt a pang of fear and guilt over her actions. Perhaps she really had taken things much too far.

With this knowledge, she trembled and took a hesitant step towards Duncan. "Duncan?" she called warily.

Duncan made no movement or sound in reply.

A sound like a strangled sob and a scream filled the air following the silence. Wailing like a wounded beast, Courtney launched herself onto Heather's hand. With her blood boiling with unfathomed rage and grief, Courtney did the only thing she could to unleash all the agony that bled through her heart and soul.

She bit deep into Heather's hand.

Now despite Harold's and Duncan's belief, tarantulas are not really the most dangerous spiders in the world. In fact, their bites are more like large bee stings. However, they are still extremely painful. As soon as Courtney sunk her venom-filled fangs into Heather's hand, pain shot through it like white fire. Heather let out an unholy scream and clutched her bitten hand. When she took another look at it, the appendage had swollen to half its normal size and had turned a nasty color of green. At seeing the sickening sight, Heather's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell into a deep faint, dropping to the floor.

"Serves you right!" Courtney snapped, indignantly lifting her chin at the sight of the fallen witch.

"Courtney." Bunneh timidly hopped into the room, ears laid back and large eyes blinking sadly. For the first time since she'd known him, he was acting like a real bunny. "Duncan…" he pointed his nose towards his little buddy, who hadn't moved at all.

Courtney's heart fell and sadness consumed her as she crawled towards her beloved delinquent. "Duncan." She whispered, finally reaching him. His body was limp as she gently rolled him over to his back and tenderly leaned him against the wall. His teal eyes were closed and his chin fell down to his chest. All eight legs were curled against his body like dead leaves.

"Duncan!" she repeated again, choking as a painful lump rose in the back of her throat. When Duncan still didn't answer and no movement rose from his body, all Courtney's strength and willfulness abandoned her. She collapsed, sobbing and hugging Duncan close, as her heart, as well as any hope of changing back to normal, crumbled to pieces.

As her body shook with weeping, Courtney felt a hand fall on her back, rubbing it comfortably. She knew it was Bunneh trying to comfort her, and ignored it. Nothing would ever make her happy again, not even changing back to human. Even if she did find a way to change back, how could she ever live a normal human life knowing that Duncan could not all because of her?

"Why did you do it?" Courtney wept miserably, burying her face into Duncan's chest. "Why couldn't you have just gone to find Harold and Beth like you were supposed to?"

"Court, when have I _ever_ did what I was supposed to do?" a teasing voice asked.

Courtney's eyes popped open with surprise at the sound of the familiar voice. The hand that has been rubbing her back now wrapped itself around her waist and pulled her close so that she was pressed up to Duncan's chest. Glancing up, Courtney saw his kind, teal eyes gazing down at her with the deepest affectation and amusement.

"You're alive!" Happiness bubbled up, along with shock, on Courtney's face as she gazed up at Duncan's smirking, but alive, face.

"Princess, I've survived being on this show for two brutal seasons." Duncan jokingly said as he unsteadily stood up. "I think that when the time comes, I'll probably be able to survive a nuclear explosion."

The moment he was up on all eight feet, Courtney gave him a hard slap across the face that sent him staggering again.

"I…I guess I should have expected that." Duncan sheepishly admitted, rubbing his red, stinging cheek. He was caught off guard when Courtney suddenly threw herself forward and hugged him. "Okay, didn't expect this!" he gasped.

"Don't ever do that to me again!" Courtney snapped, still hugging him. She tried to sound stern and angry, but was unable to hide the relieved grin that was spread across her face.

Duncan's surprised face melted into a warm smile as he wrapped his front legs around the girl tarantula and tightly returned the hug, whispering, "I won't, Courtney…I won't."

Slowly, the two drew apart and gazed expectedly into each other's faces, drawing steadily closer with lips puckered out…

Then they were interrupted by a loud, dearly hated and loved voice.

"Yo, Alice and Mad Hatter," Bunneh cried, interrupting their almost kiss, "I don't mean to be a White Rabbit, but we're going to be late for a very important date!" The rabbit pointed at a clock hanging on the wall- it read eleven o'clock, an hour away from midnight and the deadline for the kiss that would change them back to normal.

"We only have an hour to get to Beth!" Courtney cried, looking at alarmed. She grabbed Duncan's front leg and pulled him forward, towards Bunneh. "We have to go!"

Duncan managed to get a glimpse at the fallen and fainted Heather. "What happened to her?"

Courtney chambered up onto Bunneh's waiting back and replied, "Nothing, I just bit her."

Duncan froze where he stood, gazing at Courtney as if he had never quite seen her before, mouth open shock. The boy had to fight every fiber of his being not to run up to the feisty girl and kiss her to no end.

"Move it, Duncan!" Courtney snapped, "We have a deadline you know!"

A typical grin slowly spread across Duncan's face. "On my way!" he called, hurrying to her and Bunneh, musing to himself that no matter how many gorgeous girls he met, he would trade any of them- Gwen or Heather – away for the one right in front of him now.

* * *

"So I have to kiss Duncan so that he and Courtney can change back to normal?" Beth asked. Harold has just finished explaining the entire situation to her in the bushes behind the benches where everyone else still sat. The plump brunette batted her eyelashes flirtatiously, grinning. "Are you sure it isn't just because Duncan has a crush on me? I know he's a bad boy, but making a move on a taken girl? I'm ashamed!" twittered Beth, looking anything but.

Harold resisted letting out a heavy, frustrated sigh. It had been quite a challenge to get the entire story out between trying to convince the silly girl in front of him that he wasn't interested coming in between her and Brady. "Beth, I'm pretty sure that Duncan doesn't want to kiss you because he has a crush on you. He likes Courtney, remember?"

"Oh, yes, _her_." Beth sounded like she had tasted something sour.

"So you'll do it?" Harold asked hopefully.

"I guess, if it'll help." Beth at last sighed. She might detest Courtney, but Duncan was somewhat her friend. Her sweet nature wouldn't allow her not to help the two. "Where is he?"

"He'll be here soon, just be on the lookout." advised Harold.

Back on stage, Ezekiel's speech was still going strong.

"And my team, the Killer Bass," Ezekiel continued, still clutching the makeshift trophy to his scrawny chest. "I give yoo my heartfelt thanks. If yoo guys hadn't voted me off, I woould have still be'n in the game, eh, and noo't have won this here reward! A big thank yoo to the gurls, eh! For being offended by me and voting me, not Coortney, out! Eh!"

The prairie boy gazed out into the audience and fixed his grey eyes one person in particular.

"I espec'ly want to thank my teammate Bridgette." Ezekiel declared.

Bridgette, who had been half asleep, instantly jolted awake in surprise at Ezekiel's special interest in her.

"I think that yoo hated me the most, Bridgette." Ezekiel said in an almost tender manner, smiling down at the surfer girl. "Yoo're the one who got everyone else to vote me off. If it weren't for yoo, I'd still be in game and woouldn't have got this wonderful reward, eh!"

At this the whole top half of the Loser Consolation trophy fell off.

"Er…thanks, Zekey?" Bridgette let out an uncertain chuckle and fidgeted around, extremely unnerved by how warm his gaze was.

"I can never thank yoo for every'thin yoo've done for me, eh." The homeschooled boy continued, gazing at the beautiful, blonde girl as if she was the only person in the area. "Yoo're so fun…kind….woonderful in every way…."

Everyone was wide awake now and staring at Bridgette. This was becoming way too uncomfortable for the surfer girl. "Okay, Zeke, how about you talk about Eva now, hehe. She hated you a lot too, remember? Heheh…"

"Yes, I did." Eva solemnly confirmed.

Ezekiel wasn't finished yet. "I love yoo Bridgette."

There was a stunned silence before Izzy thought it appropriate to quickly run on the stage and yell, "Ooooookay! LET'S HERE IT FOR ZEKE YOU GUYS! WHHOOOOO! WHAT A SPEECH! YEAH!"

A few people let out some weak claps while Izzy grabbed Ezekiel by the scruff of his hoodie and started to drag him away. Home school continued desperately yelling out to Bridgette as he was dragged off stage.

"I always loved yoo, Bridgette! I'll always wait for yooo! When I get a cell phone, can yoo call me? Bridgette! BRIDGETTE!"

Bridgette was slowly sinking into her chair in embarrassment as Ezekiel continued to yell his undying love for her. In the seat next to her, Geoff stared after Ezekiel in a daze.

Bridgette gave her boyfriend a worried glance. "Geoff, are you…?"

"I don't believe it." Geoff said in shocked tone. A large grin spread across his face and he let out a cheer. "If another guy is in love with you, then must really be the hottest girl on the show, Bridge! WHOO-HOO! I'M DATING THE HOTTEST GIRL ON THE SHOW! EAT THAT TYLER!"

"Hey!"

"Alright, alright! Can we get on with this show already?" Chris angrily demanded, stomping back to his place in the center of the stage. He impatiently held up the suitcase of money. "It's time to finally reward Duncan with the million dollars!"

"Yes!" Justin eyed the suitcase greedily, eagerly walking towards Chris, hands extended towards the silver suitcase.

Harold stared up at the stage in horror. Where were Duncan and Courtney?

"To the winner of Total Drama Action," Chris proclaimed, grinning handsomely into the camera filming the entire thing. He extended the money over towards Justin in the guise of Duncan "I present to you exactly one million dol…"

A loud voice echoed from the heavens above.

"HANDS OFF MY MONEY!"

* * *

**Just found out this new, interesting piece of Total Drama trivia- Courtney is actually of Hispanic heritage as confirmed by the creator of the show. I know this fact has nothing to do with the story whatsoever, but I know that tons of people (including myself) have wondered what ethnicity Courtney is for their fanfic stories. I've read stories where writers have thought that she was half-black, Middle-eastern, some sort of Asian ethnicity…I myself have considered her to be Indian (as in from India) in one of my stories. I guess this will, no doubt, please the few Courtney/Alejandro shippers out there. Those two are now the only two officially confirmed to be Hispanic. Some people think Sierra is as well, but she hasn't been confirmed.**

**Now as I said in the last chapter, Ezekiel's speech has been one of the long-awaited highlights of the story. I couldn't wait to write the last part down. The whole scene with Duncan hurt from being thrown into the wall is kind of a reminder of how the very original Princess and the Frog story ended back in the old days. The Princess was a spoiled brat that threw the frog against the wall and it instantly changed back into a prince. Not a very good moral to that story. If anything, it teaches that temper tantrums solve all problems. Lol.**

**The next chapter is going to be the climax of the story, lots of action, danger, and a bit of romance…oh and some Celine Dion/Duncan/Justin bashing. Can't forget that!**

**Anywho, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Please Read and Review! Help me get to 200 reviews before the end of the story!**


	20. Showdown with the Shadow

**Author's Notes: ONLY TWO CHAPTERS LEFT TO GO! WOO-HOOOOO! Though I might type up two short bonus chapters- one that's just funny story bloopers that my twin sister/editor/co-conspirator and I have thought up throughout the entire story…you know, like that do at the end of some Pixar movies. My twin and I agreed that if there ever was a Total Drama movie in theaters, its credits should have bloopers. Yeah, that's what we do during our car-rides to Barnes and Nobles- think of killer marketing strategies for animated shows. For example, at the end of this season, the producers should sell a soundtrack with all this season's songs PLUS bonus songs that have the cast singing today's popular songs like Team Amazon singing Tik Tok or Girls Just Want to Have Fun. Also, at end of some future season, they shouldn't announce a winner, but instead, leave it at a cliff-hanger and then immediately show a trailer for a Total Drama movie that will be a follow up of the season. **

**For some reason, our family never wants to come with us on car rides…**

**Anywho, the other bonus chapter will probably be a question and answer chapter where, if any of you readers have a question concerning the story or the creative process of making the story, feel free to ask in a review.**

**Speaking of reviews…..HELP ME MAKE 200 REVIEWS! JUST 36 MORE REVIEWS TO GO! Ahem, now that that little message is out of the way…TO THE REVIEW REPLIES!**

**Kraven the Hunter: Thanks for the reassurance about college. Sorry, just had to let out a nervous rant. About Ezekiel's speech…well…Chef is still back at the camp and Chris dozed off during the first part of the speech. He only woke up after hearing the part about Bridgette in the speech.**

**CarmillaD: Yes, Geoff, Trent, and Duncan (first and second season Duncan, not the douchebag in his place in this season) are nothing but adorable, lovestruck puppies. I refuse to believe that this jackass we're seeing in the newer episodes is the real Duncan…must be the Elvis Duncan from Texas. Glad you liked the humor parts of the chapter! The parts with Beth were fun to write even though the character kind of annoys me. She's just too fickle with her boys.**

**Fluffy Things r cute: Haha, good question about the clothes. Since there is no such thing as naked people in the world of Disney, Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen were fully clothed when they transformed. For Courtney's and Duncan's sake, I will do the same…though that would make a hilarious blooper.**

**Ribbonfly: I'm glad you liked the Alice and Wonderland reference. *shrugs* I don't know why they're paired up either, but that's the main pairing for that fandom for some reason. Yes, I've been watching the new episodes too and all I can think of while watching them is "**_**BULLSHIT!"**_** If they're going to ruin a relationship,**_** THEN AT LEAST LET IT MAKE GOD DAMN SENSE! DON'T DROP AN ATTRACTION OUT OF NOWHERE, YOU BUNCH OF DIMWITS! Ugh! I've seen more sense and direction in a M. Night Shalayman movie!**_

***is calm* Ahem, yeah, Cody was pretty awesome with that falcon punch. Duncan definitely deserved it. Sorry for my sudden, angry rant.**

**SummerEliza: I can't help using cliffhangers…we writers are evil that way. I'm really glad that this is one based off movie story that you enjoy! I really appreciate the insightful suggestion about using the word "said". I'll try to remember that.**

**Anywoo, time for you guys to grab a bowl of popcorn and settle down in your chairs to begin reading the exciting climax of **_**The Princess and the Spider**_**….**

* * *

Together as one, every head tilted their chins upward towards the sound of the voice, eyes wide with surprise at the sudden interruption. A chorus of open-mouthed gasp ran out from even individual.

"It's a bird!" Tyler shouted, pointing up at the object of their undivided attention.

"No! It's a plane!" Lindsay cried, standing up.

"No, it's…" Trent was cut off by a sharp shriek of fright.

"IT'S SPIDERS! AGGHH!" LeShawna screamed and jumped on top of Trent, once again crushing the poor musician. His visible arm and leg twitched in agony as he groaned loudly.

Harold popped out of the bushes, stared upward, and let out a giant grin. "It's Duncan and Courtney! They made it! BOOYAH!" The loveable nerd jumped up and happily punched the air.

At the very top of the vast, towering stage, two tarantulas stood- one dark with a green mohawk and the other brown and purple- staring down at the brightly lit stage with expressions of anger and determination. They were unmistakably Duncan and Courtney.

Duncan turned to Courtney. "Ready?"

Courtney flipped her single, loose bang away from her eyes. "I was born ready!"

Duncan grinned; he hadn't expected any other answer. Pulling out a long strand of spider silk, Duncan swiftly attacked the sticky end to the stage and then grabbed hold of Courtney. Gripping the other end of the silk string tightly in one front leg, Duncan, carrying along Courtney, leapt from the roof of the auditorium, swinging down on the silk thread like a regular Tarzan. Both Duncan and Courtney unleashed furious war-cries as they swung down upon an extremely shocked Justin and Chris.

_**BAM!**_

The tarantula couple managed to swing right into the suitcase carrying the million dollars, knocking it out of the Chris' hands, and gracefully landed on the top of the wooden podium. The suitcase, however, sent flying across the stage straight into…

"MY CAMERA!" Chris wailed, throwing his hands up and clutching the sides of his face as he gazed in rage and horror as the destroyed movie camera. The suitcase had crashed straight into the camera's lens, cracking it open. "HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FILM ALL THIS WITH A BROKEN CAMERA?"

The host was completely ignored by the contestants as they were too busy focusing their rapt attention on the Duncan-look-alike and the two talking arachnids on stage.

"My money!" Justin cried.

Duncan glared and pointed a front leg to his own chest. "You mean _my_ money!"

"Did that tarantula just talk?" Cody gasped. Noah just stared speechlessly.

"Is this a trick?" Eva growled.

"Maybe it's just one of those holo..er..image…things." Tyler added, though quite uncertainly.

"It's not a trick! That's the real Duncan and Courtney!" Harold cried, running down the red carpet path between the two sets of benches with Beth right behind him. "The Duncan up there is really Justin!"

A panicked look crossed Justin's face. "Uh..Uh..What are you talking about? I can't be Justin! I'm Duncan!" He pointed at his Duncan-ified face. "Does Justin have a hideous unibrow?"

"It's not hideous!" Both Duncan and Courtney shouted in outraged tones at the same time. Courtney blushed scarlet at the smug look Duncan tossed her.

"That does make sense." Lindsay said hesitantly. "And the Doug and Candy I know don't have eight legs."

"Well, how does that make sense?" Gwen snapped, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "How can those spiders talk if they're not Duncan and Courtney?"

"Because it's all a trick by Chris!" a scathing voice shouted. Everyone stared in surprise when Heather, holding her swollen, green-tinged hand, and looking furious, came running on stage. The Asian girl pointed her uninjured hand at Duncan and Courtney and spat, "Those two aren't the real Duncan and Courtney! They're just tricks made by Chris for higher ratings! Right Chris?"

"WHY? MY CAMERA! _WHY_?" Chris was on his knees, hugging the camera as he sobbed.

"This is the real Duncan!" Heather shouted, pointing at Justin with her bitten hand. Everyone let out shocked and disgusted gasps at the sight of it.

"What happened to you?" Gwen asked.

Heather shot Courtney a killer glare. "That…That monster bit me!"

Courtney shot the evil woman a wolfish grin, proudly showing her dangerous looking fangs. "Keep it up and I'll do it again too!"

"WOO! GO COURTNEY!" Izzy whooped, standing up in her seat and throwing her fists into the air. Gwen looked up at Courtney with an awed expression that clearly showed that she had just found her new best friend.

"Listen, pretty boy, I'm the real Duncan!" Duncan growled, stretched his spider legs so that he stood at his tallest as he glared at Justin.

"No, I am!" Justin argued, poking the tiny tarantula in the chest.

Duncan thrust Justin's finger away. "No, I AM!"

"I AM!"

"I AM!"

"I AM!"

"I AM!"

"I AM!"

"So, who's the real Duncan?" Cody called out. Both Justin and Duncan turned to Cody and yelled at the same time.

"ME!"

The boy and tarantula glared at one another and resumed the endless argument. In the audience, Gwen's face suddenly lit up as an idea came to mind. The Goth girl quickly gestured for LeShawna, Trent, Harold, Bridgette, and Geoff to gather around and whispered instructions to them. The teens nodded and immediately shot off to gather the necessary items.

"So what did I go to Juvie for, smart guy?" Duncan tauntingly asked.

"Like I'd say what I went to Juvie for on live television!" Justin huffed.

"You're just saying that because you don't know imposter!"

"Who are you calling an impostor? I bet you don't know who I have a crush on!"

"Dude, what the hell kind of question is that? EVERYONE KNOWS WHO I HAVE A CRUSH ON!"

"Maybe who _you_ have a crush on, but not who_ I_ have a crush on!"

"If you're Duncan, then _YES,_ I do know who you have a crush on, because _I AM DUNCAN_!"

Tyler groaned. "Aww, my brain hurts."

Eva let out a scream of frustration, clutching her head. "AHH! SOMEONE BETTER FIGURE WHO'S DUNCAN BEFORE I SMASH SOME HEADS IN!"

Harold and Gwen ran up on stage. "Hey Duncans!" Harold shouted, getting both Duncan and Justin's attention.

Gwen gave an evil smirk. "Take a look at this!" She and Harold backed out of the way to reveal Trent and LeShawna holding up a body-sized mirror. The two pointed the mirror straight at mirror straight at the Duncan-look-alike known as Justin.

The handsome model let out a blood-curdling scream at the sight of his reflection in the mirror. Unable to see him self looking as hideous as Duncan, Justin lunged forward with a horrified yell, snatching the mirror from a very startled Trent and LeShawna, and threw it to the ground. The mirror smashed into pieces, but that wasn't enough for Justin. The pretty boy began to hysterically jump up and down on the shattered mirror pieces, crying out in panic.

"_I. AM. NOT. UGLY!__** I'M NOT! I'M NOT! I'M NOT!" **_Justin screeched. He stopped jumping and started to rip and tear at his green mohawk, screaming, "_AAHHH_!" At last, he fell into fetal position on the ground, rocking back and forth with one blue eye twitching insanely.

All the contestants stared at him in silence with deadpanned expressions on their faces.

"You know, I'm _almost_ convinced." Noah finally said.

Duncan was gleefully laughing and pointing at Justin's traumatized form. "Haha! What a loser!" He jeered mockingly.

"Oh Duncan!" Bridgette called to the tarantula, "Geoff and I have something for you!" The couple held up a life-size Celine Dion standee between them.

All laughter and happiness drained away from the delinquent's face. The tarantula let out a frightened shriek, jumped in the air like a scared cat, all his hair standing at its end, and launched himself at Trent. The handsome musician gave a surprised gasp, green-eyes wide with shock, before the mohawked tarantula threw himself onto Trent, all eight legs tightly gripping the unfortunate musician's face as Duncan shivering in fear, eyes flickering back and forth in a paranoid manner.

Noah looked between the tarantula clutching Trent's face like a scared kitten to the guy rocking back and forth in fetal position on the ground and leaned back in his seat with a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Okay, _now_ I'm convinced."

"See?" Bridgette shouted running to the center of the stage. "Harold was right all along! Heather and Justin tricked us all! That isn't the real Duncan," the surfer girl said gesturing towards Justin's rocking form. "And Courtney isn't at her Aunt's! They're both right here transformed into tarantulas by voodoo magic!" The blonde pointed at the wooden podium where a lone Courtney stood. "Uhh…Duncan?"

Trent pointed at his face which was covered by a trembling Duncan. "Present."

"No!" Heather cried out in desperation. "None of that proves anything! So what if that spider's afraid of Celine Dion? There's a logical explanation for all this…uh…" her grey eyes flickered back and forth, gazing at all the former contestants. Every single one of them was glaring at her, unconvinced with her empty excuses. All of them believed Harold's story now. The gig was up and her brilliant plan had ultimately failed.

The knowledge rose up in Heather in the form of fury. She turned to vent her anger on Justin. Snarling, she growled, "This is all your fault! You should have never let Duncan escape in the first place!"

The enraged girl gave the prone model on the ground a hard kick in the butt. Instantly there was a crackling sound and a purple cloud erupted out of nowhere, surrounding Justin. As soon as it cleared, there stood Justin with his Duncan disguise completely dissolved, looking as gorgeously handsome as before.

"What happened?" Justin asked, abruptly standing up and seeing everyone staring at him. He turned around and caught sight of himself in the mirror- besides still wearing Duncan's cloths; he looked just like his old self again. "I'm me again!" His voice rose into an almost Katie and Sadie-like squeal. "I'M BEAUTIFUL AGAIN!"

For some odd reason, there seemed to be uplifting gospel music playing as Justin jumped up in the air and yelled out joyously.

"I'M BEEEEEAAAUUUTIFUL AGAIN! _YEEEEESSSSS!"_

Trent and Duncan darted their eyes towards each other and then back at Justin, looking extremely weirded out. Courtney and Harold did the same as they watched Justin dance around the stage, insanely laughing with happiness. The model hugged a shocked and disturbed Heather. "Thanks for changing me back!"

"_**She did no such thing, boy."**_

Like a record player being shut off with a deafening scratch, the happy gospel music stopped and the lights went out, creating a very dark, creepy atmosphere on the stage and the grounds around it. The contestants all glanced around nervously as an ominous chuckle rippled through the air.

"Okay, Harold, we believe you about Duncan and Courtney." Noah said, gulping in fear and huddling close to Cody and Eva. "You can cut the theatrics now."

"I'm not doing anything!" the nerd replied, standing besides Gwen. He held out his hand towards the podium to allow Courtney to crawl into his palm and brought her protectively to his chest. A strong wind picked up out of nowhere and furiously blew across the contestants' heads, whipping their hair and causing them to let out frightened cries.

"Who's doing this?" Duncan shouted, still clinging to Trent's head as the powerful wind threatened to blow him away.

"_**Just call us friends from the other side." **_answered the grisly voice, steeped in evil, _**"We thought it best to transform the shallow simpleton back to his original form, before all of you meet your demise."**_

The wind died down as a group of small, ragged figures appeared out of the shadows into the spotlight to be seen by all. It was the voodoo dolls from Heather's shelf. They were ghastly looking creations with black button eyes that gleamed evil and nasty, stitched grins upon their rag-cloth faces. There was one for each contestant and they were all led by the vile-looking Duncan doll.

"I thought I just gave you one voodoo doll!" LeShawna said to Gwen.

Heather gasped and pushed Justin off her, pointing and yelling, "What are you guys

doing here!"

To the horror of everyone there, the Duncan doll opened its unstitched mouth and began to speak in the voice of Duncan-himself, but darker and more cruel and evil than the real Duncan could ever be.

"_**We have to collect our reward as part of the deal for contributing to your scheme." **_said the wicked ragdoll. The button eyes narrowed. _**"Failed or not."**_

"I don't have the reward money!" Heather cried, trembling as she backed up from the spirit-possessed dolls. She pointed a finger at Duncan. "He has it all!"

Courtney and Gwen shot the Asian girl disgusted looks at her cowardice. Duncan leaped off Trent's face and crawled towards the voodoo dolls.

"Look Raggedy-Me and beanie-freaks," Duncan scornfully addressed the voodoo dolls, boldly masking away any fear he felt. "Whatever the witch here offered you, I'll pay back the cash as long as you ugly-mugs leave and never come back!"

The vile dolls stared at the tarantula for only a moment before erupted into a fits of gleeful laughter, their high voices cackling like evil hyenas. The Duncan doll added its mocking chuckle into the heinous choir.

"_**MONEY? HAHA! Oh how pathetic a lot we have stumbled upon! We are DEMONS, idiot spider! What use do we have with your money?"**_

"Do you take American currency instead?" Izzy asked.

"_**No."**_

"How about a check?" asked Tyler. "You can take it to your demon bank and have it taken out in the currency of…er…the underworld or something."

"That makes sense." Beth commented.

"Absolutely!" Owen happily nodded while the rest of the contestants murmured their agreements.

"_**WE DO NOT TAKE ANY TYPE OF CURRENCY, YOU BLUNDERING BUNCH OF IMBECILES!" **_

"Heather!" Courtney stared hard at the other girl and urgently asked, "What actually did you promise those guys for helping you?"

"I just promised them some of the reward!" Heather scoffed. "What other reward is there besides money?"

A greedy expression spread across each doll's face as they gazed hungrily around the stage and bench, staring at each contestant.

"_**SOULS!" **_the Duncan doll answered with evil glee, button eyes gleaming.

A collection of horrified gasp sprang from everyone gathered, all except from Lindsay. The pretty blonde tapped her chin in a puzzled manner.

"Why do you want the bottom of our shoes?" she asked. "They're no good without the whole shoe."

At this point, the wind picked up again, blowing all around like a whirlwind of tempest storm, fueled by the demonic power of the voodoo spirits. Lindsay's blonde hair whipped across her face, and Geoff had to hold down his cowboy hat or else it would be blown away.

"He's not talking about shoes!" Courtney yelled against the wild gust. "HE'S TALKING ABOUT THE OTHER KIND OF SOULS! THE ONES WE ACTUALLY NEED!"

"Oh…" Lindsay blinked as the information slowly sunk in. Then she let out a shattering scream. "I DON'T WANNA DIEEEE!"

"ME EITHER! AAAHHHH!" DJ yelled, letting out his own extremely girly scream.

"Come on guys! They're just dolls!" Tyler said, standing up into a fighting chance, fists pumped and ready. There wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that he was letting anyone take away Lindsay! "We can take them!"

A rumbling, villainous snigger answered the jock's challenge. Each of the voodoo dolls behind the Duncan doll opened their gaping mouths so wide that the top parts of their heads fell back like hoods; dark, shadowy tendrils surfaced from the vile dolls like steam, gushing upward and taking the form of shadow beings. The voodoo dolls sagged lifelessly to the ground once the shadows had exited it. The shadow beings all shot towards the Duncan doll, flowing into it; the doll began to admit a sickly purple glow that grew stronger with each shadow that possessed it. At last, Duncan doll sneer and opened its mouth wide in a silent scream that unleashed a purple beam of light, made up of cackling shadows, towards the roof of the stage. A circular, purple portal formed and, in its void-like center, a pair of blood-red eyes burned down hungrily at the humans below.

With jaw dropped, Chris dropped his camera in shock, breaking it even more. Bunneh, who had been out of sight under the benches, felt his overly large eyes stretch even wider at the unbelievable spectacular before him.

As the upturned faces gazed in terrified silence, the monstrosity seemed to purr with evil delight, chuckling.

"_**Now the only question is…who shall I take first?"**_

* * *

In the janitor closet in one of the halls of the hotel, Molotov continued to mercilessly pound his giant paws against the door. Foam sprayed from his jaws and fangs bared in agitation as the mighty bear struggled to smash open the door. His little friends needed him! The bear growled and roared out curses in his native tongue when the door refused to budge. Normally, Molotov would be able to break any door down like a toothpick! However, the shadow being fused with the door gave the structure unnatural strength.

The darkened door seemed to cruelly snicker at the brown bear's futile attempts.

Molotov only stopped when his paws began to ache and his breaths came out as exhausted pants. Growling, the bear paced back and forth in the confined space broodingly. Never in his life had the powerful creature ever felt so pathetically useless! Not even when the LeShawna girl had beaten him in log-rolling! Courtney was captured and Duncan…well, the bear was still confused about the condition Duncan was in. Was he really human like he and Shishka had seen? Or was it all a trick?

The bear let out an out-drawn groan and threw himself to the ground. Despair filled him at the thought of him being trapped here while his friends battled for their humanity and lives out there. At his lowest point, Courtney's hurtful words from earlier echoed faintly in his head.

"Oh, my dearest Evangeline," Molotov softly cried to his beloved, "If you are truly here and as real as my heart tells me, help me get to my friends. They need me."

Only silence and darkness was there to answer the compassionate bear.

Molotov sniffled and drew a paw over his furry face. For the first time since he could remember, the bear felt utterly alone and defeated. He was nothing more than an old, lovesick, and foolish- extremely foolish- circus bear.

Suddenly a shrill scream filled the air. Molotov uncovered his eyes and stared before him. Light- bright, shining light- was seeping through every crack that outlined the door. The shadow being that had possessed the door let out another shriek of pain as if on fire. Like a wisp of smoke, the shadow dissolved and the door turned it usual brown color again.

The light shining through seemed to becoming brighter. Molotov backed away. Then the doorknob turned and the door was pushed opened. Molotov squinted his black eyes, momentarily blinded by the brilliant light that shone before him.

Billy the intern lowered his flashlight and stared into the depths of the closet.

"Is anyone in here? I thought I heard banging."

The intern let out a high-pitched squeal of fright as a monstrous bear charged at him, knocking the young man out of the way as it shot down the hallway, letting out echoing roars.

"_Thank you- thank you my dear Evangeline!"_

* * *

The red orbs in the purple void slowly swiveled to gaze at the contestants, each silent, numb with terror.

"_**Now, now, we don't have all night, do we? Any volunteers?" **_The demonic voice taunted. _**"Perhaps a marshmallow ceremony would be more to your likings, eh?" **_

"That actually sounds kind of nice." Owen said. Cody and Noah shot their friend deadpanned looks. "What? I get hungry during life-threatening situations, and you know how tasty marshmallows are."

"If there was a confessional right now, I'd have a few colorful things to say about now." Noah droned.

"_**Such a wide variety of choices! Shall I take the annoying know-it-all?" **_The voodoo spirit said, narrowing its eyes at Noah who gave a girlish shriek of fear. _**"Or the vain model?"**_ It focused on Justin who fearfully backed away. He tripped and fell on his butt. The lighter from the pocket of Duncan's pants slipped out as Justin fell and slid across the stage.

"Excuse me Mister…voodoo…thing." Courtney boldly snapped, glaring up the fearsome abomination with a scathing expression on her face. "But this is completely unfair! This entire deal you've struck with Heather is sketchy and completely invalid! If you dare take a single thread of any person's soul in this set, then I could sue you in the court of law! Don't think I don't have the spine to do it too, even if it is an exoskeleton! I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOU! I deal with soul-sucking demons every single day! The only difference is that mine wear business suits." She muttered the last part under her breath.

The giant eyes narrowed into dangerous blood-red slits. How DARE that insolent, little wretch stand up to him! The pathetic insect! The annoying bitch! Simpering with fury, a decision was swiftly made.

"_**You have picked your battle foolishly, girl."**_ The Being hissed, _**"Let's see how bright your fire burns when pulled into the darkness of oblivion!" **_

A shadowed claw reached out from the purple portal and stretched itself out towards Courtney. With a vicious growl, Duncan leaped upon the podium and positioned himself in front of Courtney.

"HANDS OFF HER!" Duncan snarled, stretched his front legs wide to shield Courtney. "You're going to have to go through me!"

The evil voodoo spirit rolled its eyes. _**"Whatever. You're funeral."**_ The claw wrapped its talons around Duncan instead and lifted him into the air to drag him towards the vortex.

"NO!" Courtney leaped up and took hold of Duncan's front legs; she was pulled up along side him. With a heroic cry, Harold rushed forward and grabbed hold of Courtney's body. Even with Harold's weight, the shadow being was effortlessly dragging all three along towards the portal.

Harold suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist and help drag him backwards. The red-headed nerd looked backwards and was shocked to see that it was Heather helping out.

"HEATHER?" Harold gasped, "Why are you helping?"

Heather grunted as she dug her heels into the ground, resisting the shadow's pull. "Look, I may be evil, but I didn't think things would go this far! I never wanted everyone to get their souls stolen! I just wanted the million!" She let out a scream when her beautiful hair was suddenly ripped from her head and flew into the portal. "MY HAIR!" she wailed, now bald once again.

The demon cackled evilly and continued to pull the two spiders and two teens towards the portal.

More of the contestants rushed forward to help. Justin grabbed on to Heather, Gwen grabbed on to Justin, Trent grabbed on to Gwen, Bridgette grabbed on to Trent, and so on, until their was a human chain trying their hardest to keep Duncan from being sucked into the depths of hell. Even Noah had rushed in to help at the very end of the line.

"Everyone pull!" Noah ordered. As one, the teens pulled, trying to rip the mohawked tarantula from the demon's grasp.

"OW! OW! OW!" Duncan yelped in pain, his front legs screaming as they were pulled by his friends. It was like a twisted game of tug-o-war.

"I told Nanna not so send any of her voodoo down from New Orleans!" LeShawna growled as she tugged on, gripping Geoff's waist. "But _noooooo_! It will help me win the million she says! It'll help me in the game, she says! SOME HELP THIS TURNED OUT TO BE!"

"We need more people!" Bridgette yelled, "Where's Chris?"

Chris was hiding behind the podium, desperately trying to fix the camera. "Come on! Work, damn it! I NEED TO FILM THIS! THE RATINGS WILL EXPLODE!"

Bridgette rolled her eyes at the host.

Courtney tightened her grip on Duncan's front legs. "Don't worry Duncan! I won't let go!"

"Please don't say that, Courtney!" Duncan cried with a panicked look. "The girl on _Titanic _said that and you know what? SHE LET GO!"

"You watched _Titanic_?" Harold wheezed, stilling gripping Courtney.

"But Celine Dion sings in that movie!" Trent said, sounding shocked. The guys seemed to have forgotten about their current life-threatening situation at discovering this little fact.

"Oh for the love of…" Duncan growled and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"FOR THE LAST _**BLEEPING **_TIME- IT'S HER _STANDEES_! I'M AFRAID OF CELINE DION STANDEES, NOT THE BITCH HERSELF!"

Duncan would have ranted more, but the voodoo demon gave a giant heave that almost pulled the entire chain of contestants forward into the portal. Though everyone was trying their hardest, the monstrosity was slowly winning. Soon the teens would be too tired to hold on much longer. Either that or Duncan would be ripped in two. Neither option sounded very pleasant.

"Duncan, listen," Courtney said, her front legs trembling with the effort to keep holding, "If we don't make it out of here…"

"Way to sound encouraging!" came the delinquent's sarcastic reply.

Knowing that there wasn't much time, Courtney ignored his remark and continued.

"I want you to know that I voted for you!"

Duncan's blue eyes grew wide. "You mean you voted me off? When?"

"NO! You idiot! I voted for you to win the million dollars!" Courtney cried as two tears squeezed out of her eyes. "I would always vote for you to win! Always!"

Even with the knowledge that he might only have a few more minutes to before he was sucked into an eternity of damnation, Duncan felt as if it had all been worth it to hear Courtney say those words. She hadn't voted for Beth. She had voted for him. Always for him.

There was a sniffle from the back of the human chain. "That's so sweet! I think I'm going to cry." Owen sniffed, unhooking one arm from Tyler to wipe away a tear. Everyone in front of him was immediately dragged forward without his large weight holding them down.

"ARRGHH! DON'T LET GO!" Everyone screamed as they were unwillingly dragged towards the portal.

"Oh, sorry!" Owen hastily tried to grip Tyler's red jacket again, but was too slow.

"_**YOU'RE MINE NOW!" **_The villainous voodoo spirit cackled as its pulled Duncan- along with half the contestants- closer and closer towards the dark portal.

"Think again,_ Mudak_!"

The evil being's red orbs grew wide at hearing the thunderous voice and darted in the direction of the voice. At the edge of the stage, standing on his hind legs and looking a ferocious as the most dangerous of beast, stood Molotov. At his side was Bunneh and, surprisingly, Billy the intern, looking as confused and scared as a bunny among wolves. In one of Molotov's claws was the Duncan voodoo doll, still sprouting out the purple light that was holding the spirit portal together. In his other claw, there was Duncan's trusty lighter that had fallen out of the delinquent's clothes that Justin was wearing.

With a flick of his claw, Molotov ignited a small flame on the lighter.

At once, the demonic eyes filled with different emotion other than anger and hunger.

Fear.

"Remember, children," the bear growled with a smirk, "Only you can prevent fires…" He brought the flame onto the Duncan doll so that it went up in flames.

"Though sometimes I say just screw it."

Screeches of pain and suffering soared up to the night sky as the flames took over the ragged doll, burning it black. The portal faltered and seemed to fade as the red orbs at its center winced in obvious pain. The shadow claw twitched and twisted in agony, letting go of Duncan. The tarantula and his friends all stumbled backwards. Courtney fell and was caught by Trent.

"You're finished, loser!" Duncan yelled from the ground at the quickly dissolving portal.

The red eyes winced and forced themselves opened, glaring down at the tarantula.

"_**Perhaps so…"**_ it growled._** "But I will be taking one of you with me!"**_

With the very last of the evil being's strength, it summoned the shadow hand up and made it lunge at Duncan, taking hold of the mohawked tarantula and lifted him up to the portal before any of his friends could grab on to him.

"DUNCAN!" Courtney cried in agony from Trent's hands.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!"

A grey and white blur jumped up and took hold of the shadow arm. Bunneh huffed and puffed as he tried to pry the claws away from Duncan.

"You've…messed...with…the…wrong….SHOW ANIMAL!" The bunny growled. Finally, just as the two friends were about to hauled through the vortex, Bunneh managed to pry the claws loose and Duncan went falling down to the stage. However, Bunneh wasn't so quick and disappeared along with the rest of the shadow arm, into the portal. With a crackle and sizzle, the portal disappeared into nothingness.

"BUNNNNNEEEHHHHHHH!" Duncan yelled, voice full of anguish, as he fell to the ground below. Gwen ran up and managed to catch her friend before he hit the ground.

Molotov dropped the charred doll and stared up in horror, black eyes wide with sadness for his lunatic friend. "No!"

"Oh, Bunneh, no!" Courtney cried, burying her face in her front legs.

Even Duncan had his head bowed in grief in the palm of Gwen's hands. This was worse than Petey and Scruffy combined! How could his, Courtney's, and Molotov's crazy, absurd, disgusting, ill-mannered, loyal, loveable friend really be gone?

"Why'd you do it man?" Duncan wailed to the heavens. "WHY?"

Suddenly, a tiny purple portal reappeared; Bunneh was tossed out of it along with the sound of someone spitting out something disgusting. The portal instantly disappeared again.

While everyone stared in shock, Bunneh glared upwards and angrily shook his tiny, furry fist at the empty air.

"HEY! HOW DARE YOU SPIT ME OUT! YOU COMPLETELY RUINED MY HEROIC MOMENT! GET BACK HERE YOU STUPID DEMON SO THAT I CAN SACRIFICE MYSELF AGAIN!"

"_BUNNEH!"_

Happy cheers rang out from the surrounding campers as Duncan and Courtney leapt from Trent and Gwen's hands and threw themselves at Bunneh. Courtney hugged the rabbit tightly around the neck while Duncan affectionately ruffled Bunneh between the ears.

"I knew someone like you was too disgusting for anyone to eat!" Duncan joked, smiling with happiness and relief.

Bunneh blinked puzzled. "You guys really missed me?"

Even Molotov shuffled over to get the bunny a sticky lick in the face. "Life would be very dull without you_, dorak_."

"I don't know what they're saying," Gwen commented to Bridgette, grinning as they watched the four animal friends, "but that rabbit and bear are alright with me."

"Those two make some weird friends." LeShawna commented seeing Duncan and Courtney animatedly talk with the two animals. The animals answered back in growls and chitters that no one but the tarantula couple could understand.

Now that the immediate danger was over, the newly bald Heather stared at the scene with a scowl on her face. "Gag. This is becoming too much like a sappy Disney movie. What's next? A kiss?"

Her comment caused Duncan, Courtney, and Harold all to gasp.

"THE KISS!"

As if on cue, Harold's watch began to glow and beep out an alarm. Harold read out the time with a panicked expression on his freckled face.

"It's midnight!" Harold cried. Turning to Beth, he ordered, "Hurry! Beth you're going to have to kiss Duncan so that he and Courtney can change back!"

"But Brady…"

"JUST KISS HIM!" Harold snapped, finally loosing his temper. It's not like Brady ever stopped Beth from kissing _him_ on the show! "_GOSH!" _

"Duncan has to kiss Beth?" Trent asked, looking confused.

"Explain later!"

Beth hurriedly picked up Duncan, who looked as if he were bracing himself for the death sentence- eyes squeezed shut and muttering _"Just one kiss! Just one kiss_!" Taking a deep breath, the stout girl closed her eyes and, with lips puckered, gave the tarantula a bit, wet kiss on the lips….

And nothing happened.

* * *

**Just two more chapters and the story is done! On another note, I finished watching all the Total Drama World Tour series. The ending sucks. It has its funny moments, but it still sucks. There's just too many loose ends in this season that the final doesn't resolve at all. I won't say anymore than that because I know there are many that don't watch the series online.**

**Anywho, just to let you guys know, the climax has changed so much since I started planning the story out. I had to drop out a whole bunch of weird shit that I originally wanted to happen. Originally, when the story was just starting out, I wanted the demon voodoo spirits to change the contestants into animals at this part to…I don't know…make it easier to suck them into the portal to hell. I'd drawn pictures what animals each contestant would be- Trent was a goose (which I adore), Geoff an octopus, Bridgette a starfish, Gwen a cat, and so on. Then one idea was that Duncan and Courtney made this giant web to help keep the shadow beings from taking their friends. I had tons of ideas and, in order for the story to make sense, I had to drop most of them. But all of them were so much fun sketching out.**

**And yes, Molotov didn't die. I know that Ray dies in the movie, but it's kind of hard to kill off a bear. Plus, it's the Total Drama universe- there was no way I could kill off any main character. So let the Molotov fans rejoice! He lives! The loveable bear lives!**

**Anywho, I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter! Only about two more left to go! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**


	21. A Transformation of Love

**Author's Notes: Well, we're at the second to last chapter. I've been waiting quite a long time to actually get to writing this particular chapter and write what I consider the heartfelt moment of closure between Duncan and Courtney. I hope to capture the essence of what makes their relationship one of the most beloved on the show. Screw season three. Screw DxG. Screw canon. THIS is couple will always be the one that defines what Total Drama is- a mix of comedy, competition, and romance. To be perfectly honest, the only reason I watched Total Drama Island was because I watched a cute DxC video on Youtube and wanted to see who the characters were and what the show was about. Thank goodness the first episode I watched was the Phobia episode. God, did I fall hard for the show after seeing all that craziness.**

**But yeah, all you reviewers, you guys rock. Seriously, I love all you for reading this, faving it, and reviewing. Thank you guys for all the support you have given me during the entire course of writing this story. **

**Let me tell you, the absolute best comment that anyone has ever given me about this story (and quite a few readers have told me this) was that it was this story that has kept their faith of DxC strong after season three. Everytime I hear that it just touches my heart and makes me feel as if writing this story was worthwhile.**

**Once again, thank you…all of you- the readers, the reviewers, the fans….**

**This chapter is for you.**

* * *

Beth and Duncan separated lips, staring at one another in horrified disbelief. Still cupped in Trent's hands, Courtney felt her heart drop into her stomach. It couldn't be true…she and Duncan couldn't be stuck as tarantulas for the rest of their lives! Neither she nor Duncan felt a single tingle of magic run through them at the kiss.

"It didn't work!" Harold cried out in disappointment. All that heroic build up wasted…

"Okay, first off, kiss between Beth and punk- completely disgusting." Heather gagged in disgust. "Second, why did it happen?"

"Because Beth has a Total Drama Princess Doll, duh! A kiss from Beth was supposed to change Duncan and Courtney back! _Gosh!_" replied Harold, acting as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Beth was beginning to look flustered at the horrible predicament. "Umm…maybe a second kiss might work?"

"Uh…I think one kiss is good enough…wait, no, no! No!"

Beth picked up the struggling tarantula, ignoring his loud protests, and planted another sloppy kiss on his tiny, spider lips. Duncan stuck his tongue out and gagged afterwards.

Still no transformation…

Suddenly, Duncan was whisked out of Beth's hands by Lindsay. The bubbly blonde said, "Maybe you're doing it wrong Beth! Let me try! I can be a princess!" With a big smile on her pretty face, Lindsay leaned forward towards Duncan's confused one and planted a long, passionate smooch on the delinquent.

In the audience, Cody and DJ had to quickly pull an angry-looking Tyler back into his seat. Courtney didn't look too pleased either. She raised a curled front leg and looked as if she was going to go on a full-fletched rage rant, but Trent quickly muffled her by gently covering the little tarantula under his hand.

Lindsay broke out of the kiss and frowned, seeing that there was still a spider in her hand. "Aww, it didn't work. Sorry Doug."

"Hehe, no problem at all." Duncan said, smiling goofily with a dreamy look on his face.

Izzy somersaulted on stage next to Lindsay, and whipped the mohawked tarantula out of the beautiful blonde's hands. She cackled madly, "Hahaha! You two are doing this all wrong! I'll show you how a real princess kisses a spider!" She held Duncan out at arm's length and said, "I'll just use the same technique I used to kiss the rattlesnake prince of Persia!" She hissed, wriggling her long tongue, and smashed her lips onto the lips of an extremely terrified Duncan.

When Izzy pulled away, Duncan looked mentally scarred. Oh god, did that woman use _tongue_?

Then Katie and Sadie ran up on stage, shouting out one after the other.

"Oh, let us try next!"

"Yeah, we can totally like be princesses!"

"Yeah, like totally!"

Izzy gave wide, fanged grin. "Of course!"

The tarantula in her hand glared. "Don't I get a say in this?"

"NOPE!" With that, the insane redhead tossed the delinquent spider over at the two BFF's, who each, at the same time, planted kisses on both Duncan's blushing cheeks.

Still no transformation.

However, the Total Drama girls kept trying. Hoping to help change her best friend and Duncan back to normal, Bridgette volunteered to kiss Duncan next. He was then passed over to Eva; then to LeShawna, who, despite being terrified of spiders, gave the little delinquent a small peck. Meanwhile, the rest of the boys just watched the entire scene with jealous and bewildered stares.

"May I volunteer to be the next one transformed into an animal by voodoo spirits?" Cody asked wistfully watching as Duncan received kisses from every girl on the show. Damn that lucky spider.

"I'm not doing this." Heather spat, glaring spitefully down at the tarantula in her hands. Duncan was glaring in return, liking this even less than the bald girl did.

LeShawna pointed a threatening finger at the selfish contestant. "Oh, witch, you're doing it! You changed Juvie and his girl into creepy-crawlies, and you're going to help change them back!"

Heather threw the black girl a hateful glance, but reluctantly raised the tarantula up to kiss him rather than face LeShawna's wrath. When he was close to Heather's face, Duncan bared his large spider fangs and gave a scary hiss. Heather gave a shriek of fright and quickly tossed Duncan over to Gwen, forgetting all about the kiss.

Gwen was the last girl left. She looked down at her tarantula friend in her hands and asked, "So do you really want me to try?"

"NO!" Both Trent and Courtney shouted at the same time. When everyone stared at them, the two gazed innocently around the stage, looking quite embarrassed.

Gwen gazed down at Duncan, who was staring up at her with sad, teal eyes pleading. She was his and Courtney's last hope of changing back to human. With a sad sigh, Gwen leaned down and planted a small kiss on the top of Duncan's green, mohawked head.

A long moment passed with everyone staring expectantly up the stage at Duncan, waiting for a twinkle of magic to shine, for a heavenly glow of light to rain down and transform Duncan and Courtney back to the normal punk and prep that they all have grown to love and hate.

But there was nothing…

Nothing at all.

Gwen's large dark eyes swam with sad tears at the realization. "I'm sorry," she apologized, looking down at Duncan's crestfallen face. "I'm really sorry, Duncan."

"It's okay." Duncan said, looking depressed. He then brightened for a moment and said, "But just to make sure, could I try kissing Lindsay again?"

Gwen frowned and flicked Duncan on the side of the head with her finger. "Ow!"

Everyone on and around the stage looked glum at the hopeless situation. Even Chris looked upset, though that was solely because his camera was still broken and thus unable to film any of the previous excitement or the teens' endless misery. Such a tragedy.

Owen tried to brighten the mood. "Well, hey, dudes, at least there's some good news!" the giant blonde ball of cheer proclaimed. "So what if you two are still spiders? At least you're the richest spiders in all of Canada!"

"That's right! Duncan, you still have the million dollars!" Bridgette agreed.

Both Duncan and Courtney looked greatly cheered by the reminder, Duncan especially. Even if the two of them remained tarantulas, then at least he would still be able to make sure that Courtney got into her law school and that they both lived comfortably. He'd pay his princess back for getting her into this mess in the first place.

At last, Chris finally spoke up, momentarily abandoning his mournful lamenting over the destroyed camera. The host stood up with an angered expression on his handsome face and pointed a finger at Duncan.

"No way! Thanks to you, the entire season final and my chances at winning a Gemmy were ruined! RUINED I TELL YOU! No way, I'm giving you the million dollar reward!" The host shouted.

His announcement sparked outrage among the contestants.

"That's not fair!" Courtney cried out in outrage. "He won that money fair and square!"

"The contract says that I have the reward the money to the teenage contestant that won the competition." Chris explained, smirking evilly. "Duncan was a teenager in _human _years. But he's a tarantula now! They only live like…twenty years? He's sixteen! You and him are practically ancient in spider years!" He let out a cruel chuckle at the disappointed looks on the tarantula couple's faces. "But hey, look on the bright side! If you two want, you can join the rest of the contestant in winning back the million by competing in the next radical season…." He paused to build up the suspense before raising his hands up and shouting in a musical voice.

"TOTAL….DRAMA…._WOOORRRRLLDDDD TOOOOURRRRRR!"_

"_**AWWWWWHHHH!"**_

Every contestant let out a loud, long groans of annoyance and anger at the thought of having to compete in another horrible season filled with Chris and his sadistic, dangerous challenges.

Duncan alone remained silent. Still resting in the palm of Gwen's hands, the mohawked tarantula turned his back away from everyone else, especially Courtney, and bowed his head in the deepest of shame. He didn't have the heart or courage to face her. It was all because of him and his stupid kiss that Courtney had gotten pulled into this horrible fiasco along with him. The delinquent had done many bad acts and made several terrible mistakes in his life, but this was the only one he felt true guilt over. He hadn't just screwed his life over, but he had screwed up Courtney's as well. Thanks to him, she was going to be stuck as a horrible tarantula for the rest of her life, she'd never able to go to law school and become a successful lawyer, or find a guy to date and marry. She'd never be able to live a normal life- all thanks to him. The only girl he'd ever loved probably hated him right now.

A painful lump rose in the back of his throat at the thought, and the back of his eyes prickled with pain in a way that he hadn't felt since he was small boy.

"Duncan." Duncan heard Courtney's concerned voice calling from somewhere behind him.

He squeezed his teal eyes shut and remained with his back to her, unable to bear seeing her angry face. Swallowing the tightening lump, Duncan finally managed to speak.

"Look, Court, I…I understand if you don't want to see my face again."

None of the contestants or Molotov and Bunneh, dared speak a word nor take in a breath. They all watched, looking at Duncan who was in the palm of Gwen's hands, and then at Courtney, who was still resting in Trent's. They all watched expectantly, waiting to see what drama unfolded between the long-feuding couple. It was finally time to hear the truth.

Courtney looked surprised by Duncan's assumption. "I don't understand." She replied, "Why would I never want to see your face again?"

"Because all this is my fault!" Duncan shouted, eyebrow furrowed in frustration as he glanced back glare at Courtney. "Thanks to me, both you and I are stuck as tarantulas, completely broke, and, it gets even better, we have compete in another crappy season again! Even I hate myself now!"

"This was not your fault, Duncan. Heather was the one that started everything, not you!" Courtney reasoned, shooting the bald girl a hateful glare.

"I was the one stupid enough to fall for Heather's trick in the first place." Duncan argued, turning his dark back to Courtney once again.

Courtney couldn't take the guilt anymore and yelled out in a shame-filled voice, "But _I _was the one that drove you to going to Heather in the first place!" Courtney saw Duncan's back stiffen up with surprise at her words. "Heather told me everything." The CIT admitted, slightly bowing her head, "If this entire mess is anyone's fault…then...it's my fault."

The brunette spiders swallowed up her pride and continued, "If it wasn't for the horrible way I acted during season two…if I hadn't acted so….so…." Courtney faltered, very reluctant to list out any of her faults. However, the rest of the contestants weren't hesitant in the slightest.

"Mean!" shouted Lindsay.

"Bossy!" added Beth

"Like a complete and total bi-" began Noah before being abruptly cut off by Courtney.

"Thank you!" Courtney snapped in annoyed tones, glaring at the people that had spoken before addressing Duncan again. She could tell by how rigid he was that he was listening attentively. "The point I'm trying to make is that if I had treated you better, then none of this would have happened. I…" Courtney paused and looked up at Trent. "Do you mind moving a bit closer?"

Trent looked over a Gwen, who was holding Duncan, and looked a bit nervous. Gwen's expression turned quite worrisome as well. However, Trent dutifully moved a couple of steps towards Gwen and Duncan for Courtney.

On the sidelines, LeShawna gave a pleased grin.

"Thank you." Courtney thanked Trent and turn back to Duncan. Her expression had softened to one that was uncharacteristically nervous. "Look, Duncan, I know that you and I don't always agree on things…okay, we fight on about everything. I get annoyed about how you always hang out with Gwen…"

Trent glanced up as he listened to what Courtney was saying to Duncan, and his green eyes found their way to Gwen's pale, beautiful face.

"…and I know that you get annoyed about how obsessive I get about things."

At this, Gwen raised her head and found herself looking over at Trent. Both seemed to be lost in each other's searching gaze as the words that Courtney were saying to Duncan slowly stirred something within their rapidly beating hearts.

"But when you really care about someone, it doesn't matter because their faults are part of who they are. You shouldn't let a person's faults blind you to the great, wonderful person they are inside."

Looking over the tarantulas in both their hands, Gwen and Trent each shot the other a small, sweet smile that clearly spoke, _"I'm so sorry."_

"I shouldn't have let all your faults blind me to how wonderful you were, Duncan, or had allowed the competition get to my head like it did." Courtney took a deep breath and in a tender voice said, "Because the absolute truth is, winning a million dollars would mean _nothing_ to me if I couldn't share it with you."

Hushed gasps rippled through the listening onlookers at Courtney's words. Duncan slowly turned around, hope shimmering in his brilliant teal eyes.

Courtney gave him a loving smile, dark eyes full of emotion. "I love you, Duncan."

For a passing moment, Duncan was still with shock. As Courtney's passionate words sunk in, a warm grin spread across the tarantula's delighted face.

"Hey Gwen…do you mind?" he asked, gesturing towards Courtney and Trent.

With a content smile on her face, Gwen walked towards Trent, who looked just as pleased. Both Gwen and Trent extended their hands until they touched so that Duncan and Courtney could embrace.

"Eight legs and all?" Duncan teasingly asked, hugging Courtney close.

Courtney lovingly nuzzled her head underneath Duncan's chin. "Eight legs and all."

There was a few sniffling and wiping of eyes from the surrounding onlookers. Sadie, Katie, and Beth were all teary eyed. Molotov sniffled and smiled happily. Bridgette and Geoff were hugging as LeShawna wiped away a stray tear. Bunneh sobbed and Owen was wailing, raining tears upon Noah and Cody.

"I-It's so b-beautiful!" Owen tearfully bawled. He picked up Noah and loudly blew his runny noise on the bookworm's red sweater. "Oh, sorry little buddy." The giant apologized, "I thought you were a tissue."

"No problem at all." Noah growled, glaring as his sweater dripped with green snot.

Duncan withdrew from the embrace and gazed deeply into Courtney's shining eyes, grinning. "I love you too, Princess."

Courtney didn't reply, but the happiness on her face said it all. Without another word, the two tarantulas leaned towards one another, blue and dark eyes filled with all the love and joy in the world, and finally…after all the fighting, all the obstacles, all the distractions…

Finally, Duncan and Courtney kissed….

…And that's when the magic finally happened.

The moment their lips touched and their eyes closed with bliss, golden light seemed to bubble up from out of nowhere, all around the couple- popping and sparkling in a lovely, delightful splendor. The spider webs that covered the ceiling of the stage suddenly floated down from the heaven, glowing like beautiful golden thread, and, as if alive, began to circle around the kissing spider couple.

Trent and Gwen let out gasps and scrambled backwards in surprise, but Duncan and Courtney remained where they were, floating in midair, lips still locked as the golden threads began to cover them.

Everyone in the audience stared, in awe and amazement, at the spectacular, magical display before them. Bathed in the golden light, Izzy stood up and madly cackled with joy, "Ooooh! THIS IS GOING TO BE GOOD! HAHA!"

Duncan and Courtney had disappeared inside the cocoon of light. It shone and glistened, dazzling everyone with its beautiful golden light. Finally, the golden orb began to melt away, its fragments drifting away like wisps of fog. And standing where two tarantulas had been were now Duncan and Courtney…

Fully human and still kissing, oblivious to everything that had occurred.

The couple opened their eyes slowly at first, but they soon shot open, wide and shocked as they stared at their significant other in disbelief and amazement.

"I don't believe it…" Courtney murmured, patting herself down as if making sure what she was seeing was real.

"We're human again!" Duncan cried joyously.

"And you have new clothes!" chirped Lindsay, pointing. "You two look all pretty like a real prince and princess!"

It was true. Both Duncan and Courtney had on new, beautiful clothes, that, to be perfectly honest, looked as if they had been spun out of a fairy tale. Courtney was wearing a purple ballroom dress with beautiful spider web patterns of silver thread and a shining tiara rested on her brunette head. Duncan was wearing a black waistcoat along with green cape pinned around his neck by a skull-shaped pin. All in all, Courtney looked stunningly beautiful while Duncan cut a very dashing figure.

"You two are normal!" Harold shouted happily, running up towards the fairy-tale dressed couple. To the nerd's complete surprise, he was swept into a tight hug from Courtney. She pressed her lips to his freckled, blushing cheek.

"Thanks to you." She sincerely said. "You were a great help, Harold."

Harold was blushing madly and only managed to mumble out a happy, "_Gosh_."

"But how?" Duncan asked, sounding puzzled. "I kissed you before and that didn't happen!"

A deep voice answered the delinquent. "It's like I said before, maggot! You got to kiss a princess to break the spell!"

Chef came walking on stage, much to everyone, especially Duncan and Courtney's surprise. The large, frightening man threw a pair of keys over at a shocked-looking Chris. "Plane's ready to go." Chef then turned to Duncan and Courtney and explained.

"Since ponytail girl is no longer the princess, then bossy spider goes back to being the main princess of the series." The black man chuckled deeply, "At least according to the fan base."

Courtney narrowed her eyes, still confused at the meaning of his words. "I don't understand. I'm not a real princess! I don't have a doll or anything."

Duncan's puzzled face suddenly lit up with realization. "Your nickname! You're considered a princess because of the nickname I always call you!" The delinquent let out a loud, hilarious laugh at the look of surprise spread across Courtney's face. "Haha, looks like you can't get mad anymore whenever I call you 'Princess', huh, Princess? Haha!"

Once the shock wore away, a feisty, devious expression spread across Courtney's face. Smirking, Courtney grabbed Duncan by the collar and pulled him down to face level.

"Shut up," she grinned teasingly, "and give this princess another kiss."

Duncan smiled and chuckled.

"As you wish, _Your Highness_."

The delinquent spider prince pulled Courtney into another passionate kiss that caused cheers to erupt from all who watched. When the kiss ended, Duncan took Courtney in his arms and two spun around, laughing with endless happiness, surrounded by the cheers and applauds of their cheering friends and comrades.

* * *

**I know I have tons of college homework to do, but I don't care. I just had to finish this chapter. This scene hasn't really changed much since the beginning of the story. I had Courtney's speech revealing her love for Duncan memorized pretty early on. I also designed it so that it would show how similar Gwen's and Trent's relationship was so that hearing it would bring them back together as well. Kill two birds with one stone all that junk. **

**And ah yes, the different outfits, lol, Well, they made them wear different outfits when they transformed back to human in the movie! Can't have them naked. Plus, Courtney wore a princess outfit in the show so I just HAD to let Duncan have a princely outfit. I have both their outfit designs drawn out and, when I get enough time, I will outline and color them and put them up on my Deviantart page. Just please be patient for I have started art college and am very busy at the moment. Homework comes first. **

**Hehe, having all the girls kiss Duncan to try and change him back was a joke I've had planned from the very beginning. Just to poke fun at all the shippings that revolve around Duncan. Izzy would so French a tarantula if she had the chance.**

**I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter. There's only one left! Help me make it to 200 reviews! Thank you!**


	22. A Happily Ever After

**Author's Notes: *sighs* Having weeks of college and procrastinate (trust me when I say that I do not want this story to end any more than you readers do), we have come to the end of "The Princess and the Spider." There will be one last bonus chapter, but as for the story itself, this is the end. This entire thing has been such a joy to write, combining two of some of my favorite things (Disney's the Princess and the Frog and the Total Drama Series) in the world to create a great story which, I dearly hope, has become a unique tale in its own right even if it is technically a crossover. **

**There are so many people to thank that have helped get me through this story. First and foremost will always be my twin sister and beloved best friend, Kacey. She is always there to listen to my strange story ideas to be both an adviser and critic. Not only that, but she is kind enough to read over any new chapters, toss over a few wonderful plot ideas, and fix the spelling and grammar mistakes that I frequently make while typing the first draft of any chapter. She is the Katie to my Sadie and a partner that rises above all others in loyalty and one that I will always keep by my side in the years to come.**

**And then of course, there are the many reviewers and readers. WE MADE IT TO 200 REVIEWS! You guys rock so much! Especially those who have read and reviewed this story from the very beginning such as CarmdillaD, Princess Absahail, Mr. Panama Red, LuckyNumber18, and so many more. There are far too many for me to list, but I want every single one of you to know that I truly appreciate all you guys have done. Your reviews are what me updating this story as much as I did. **

**For all the DxC fans who has asked whether I shall continue to write more DxC stories. I do plan on writing more DxC material though a lot of it may just be oneshots or two-shots. However, I will be co-writing a bunch of DxC fairy tales with another fellow DxC writer and good friend edwardandbella4evah author of Prinzessin. I will ALWAYS support DxC, but the next long story I'm writing will actually be a Courtney/Harold story. It will be the How To Train Your Dragon/Total Drama crossover story with Harold playing Hiccup, Courtney as Astrid, and...yes…Duncan as Toothless. God help me on that one. I might have to wait until I'm done co-writing the DxC fairy tale stories to start posting the story up but when I start it I hope to make it as entertaining and likeable as this story was to you guys. **

**But keep up supporting DxC you guys as well as Duncan and Courtney as individual characters. The characters are what make the story and if you can't keep the characters likeable and relate-able to the audience then your story's pretty much gone. But keep them true to their personality and allowed them to show you where the story needs to run and not force it out. **

**Now, without further ado, I present the conclusion of the The Princess and the Spider….**

* * *

The season final ceremony had, eventually, gone on.

Minutes after the spectacular tarantula-to-teen transformation, Billy, the ever so obedient intern, found an extra camera so that the show could continue shooting. And it did. But not before Chris spent a good couple of minutes trying to strangle the unfortunate intern, angrily screaming out profanities and death threats and demanding why the hell hadn't Tommy…er…Bobby…Billy…what's-his-name…brought the camera in sooner, when there had been some REAL ratings-boosting action! It had taken both Eva and DJ to pull the enraged host off the blonde intern.

But other than that the show had gone on without a hitch and Duncan had, after Chris had been threatened by a bear, rabbit, mob of teens, and Courtney wielding a lamp post, finally received his million dollar prize. The season final was a complete success though for the next couple of days, Chris received quite a few phone calls and letters from fans and executives wondering why in the world were Duncan and Courtney wearing fairy tale costumes, why was there a bear and rabbit with them, why was the stage a complete mess, and why did all the contestants looked as though they had been through a tornado?

That was just some of the letters and phone calls. The rest and majority of them just wanted to know whether there would be Princess Courtney and Prince Duncan dolls for sell afterwards. And there were- much to Courtney's delight and Duncan's absolute horror. But that's a story for another day.

The moment the ceremony was done being filmed Geoff had stood up and announced that it was time for a celebration party.

"Cause, bro, like doesn't every fairy tale end in a party?" the blonde partier cheerfully inquired.

"Not really." Noah bluntly said.

"Most end in weddings." Beth said giggling.

Geoff somehow slipped in between Duncan and Courtney, placing an arm around both their shoulders, smiling brightly. "Really? AWESOME! Congrats dude and dudette! Why did you tell us sooner? I'm the best man right?"

Everyone erupted in laughter as the former tarantula couple's faces burned a crimson red.

"Not in this fairy tale!" Courtney huffed in her usual haughty fashion. However she smirked and cast a glance over at Duncan, dark eyes twinkling with a secret thought.

"_At least…not quite yet."_

* * *

So the benches were moved, tables had been put out, and the party was in full swing at the set. There was music, food, and much clatter and gossip flying around about what all had happened over the last couple of days. Everyone wanted to know the full story. Duncan, Courtney, and Harold were the heroes of the hour. The contestants flocked around them, demanding to hear all that had taken place.

Harold loved every second of it. When Courtney and Duncan had snuck off to be left alone for a while, the red-headed nerd had happily taken over as chief story teller.

"So then Duncan and Courtney were attacked by a shark!" Beth gasped, gazing at Harold with unmistakable adoration. Brady was forgotten as she listened to the enthralling tale.

Finally receiving all the attention he crazed, Harold was definitely in his element. "Not just one shark, but THREE!" The geek said, grateful that he had been the first person that Duncan and Courtney had told the whole story to.

Suddenly Katie and Sadie ran up towards the group of admirers and excitedly began to gush, bobbing their heads as they talked.

"Like is it true?" Sadie asked.

"We've just heard!" continued Katie.

"Is what true, fair ladies?" Harold asked.

"Like we just totally heard!"

"That you saved Duncan from some of Heather's nasty shadow minions!"

"With only a flashlight and a yoyo!"

"That's so amazing!"

"Like totally amazing!"

Harold's jaw dropped in confusion as the two girls continued to chatter up a storm about his supposed heroics. Several other contestants heard and shuffled forwards, peering at the nerd with curious eyes.

"Wow, is that true, Harold?" Cody asked, staring in disbelief at his friend. Surely it couldn't. But then again, the techno-geek thought, stranger things had happened these last few days.

Harold opened his mouth to deny the claim, fearing that if Duncan heard the false story then he would return back to treating Harold like a punching bag. However, Harold looked over the heads of the gathered crowd and caught sight of Duncan staring at him from one of the tables. The delinquent was frowning with an unreadable expression on his face. Harold gulped and felt chills of fear go down his spine. Had the former bully already heard?

A tense, fearful moment passed for Harold when he was suddenly hit by a sight that shocked him more than anything he had seen so far.

Duncan's face broke into a grin and the delinquent winked a teal eye at the nerd.

"So Harold, is it true?" Tyler repeated the question that Cody had asked.

Harold broke out of his shocked stupor and looked back the expectant faces tilted up at him. He gave an owlish blink.

"…Yes," Harold finally answered. A large smile spread across his freckled face as he continued in more confident tones. "I did save him! Right before he went to go rescue Courtney from Heather!" There were instantly gasps of surprise and admiration that rippled through the crowd.

"Oh, that's so brave, Harry!" Lindsay happily cried.

"Awesome job, Mister H-bomb!" Tyler said high-fiving the geek.

Harold's happiness was complete when LeShawna rushed up and swept him into a bone-crushing hug, gushing. "Oooh, I knew my sugar baby was a hero!"

"Tell us what happened!" Beth begged and several others took up the call, looking up at Harold with keen interest and new-found respect.

Chest puffed out with pride, the geek instantly launched into an epic tale, imaginatively making up stuff as he went along.

"So there I was, walking down the hallway, looking for any sign of my comrades, Duncan and Courtney, when suddenly I hear the sound of Duncan wailing…."

Harold was instantly pelted in the head by a well-thrown rock.

"…Er…I mean…I hear him growling! Yeah, growling! Locked in a fight with one of the beautiful Heather's evil shadow minions. Well, I grab my yoyo and rush forward with a mighty battle cry…"

From a white-clothed table a short distance away, Duncan gave a snort of mild amusement at hearing Harold's farfetched tale.

"I saw that." Across the table, Courtney was staring at Duncan with a knowing smile on her face. The couple was back into their regular clothes once again, having changed before the party.

"Saw what princess?" Duncan asked, quickly turning away from the direction of Harold and his group of admirers to pretend to have been looking at something else.

"You're the one that spread that rumor, weren't you?" The quick-witted brunette announced, staring at her boyfriend in stunned, but happy bewilderment.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Duncan sniffed airily, trying to appear cool and unconcerned. Courtney wasn't fooled.

"Oh, Duncan, don't lie. Admit it- you're just as grateful to Harold as I am." Courtney lectured, There's no shame in doing something nice for a friend, you know."

Duncan cocked his eyebrow in surprise. "Friend?"

Courtney looked as if she couldn't quite believe it herself.

"Yes." She finally said, looking Duncan in the eyes and grinning. "Friend."

Courtney was happy to see Duncan's softer side showing. She was relieved that the feuding between her, Duncan, and Harold was over. Well, not quite_ completely_ over. She was positive that there would definitely be more fights and arguments and, in Harold's and Duncan's case, pranks in the future. But after their entire adventure with magic and voodoo, it was impossible for the three former enemies to not hold a considerable amount of respect and fondness for the other.

Under Courtney's searching gaze, Duncan gave an embarrassed scowl and rolled his eyes in defeat.

"Fine…you win. I owed the nerdling and thought this," He gestured towards the Harold's growing group of fans, "was the best way to get him his own happily ever after and all that trash. Just don't go spreading it around okay?"

Courtney flashed him her most winsome smile. "Don't worry, I promise."

Duncan frowned and deadpanned. "I don't believe you. You said the same thing about the DJ and Bunny incident back in season one." His suspicious expression melted into bewilderment when Courtney leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

"Believe me now?" Courtney sweetly asked, batting her eyelashes.

"Not at all, Princess," Duncan replied with a satisfied smirk, "Though you can try to convince me one more time just to make sure." He chuckled when Courtney punched him in the shoulder.

"It looks like everyone is starting to get their happily ever after." Courtney observed as she and Duncan gazed around the party at all their friends.

"I can't believe it!" DJ cried, sitting a couple tables over. He sniffling and leaking tears of happiness as he exclaimed, "Thanks to Courtney and Duncan, I don't just have one Bunny! I HAVE TWO!" Smiling brightly, he hugged his two beloved pets close.

In one hand was a very happy Bunneh, finally reunited with his master, and in other hand was a very unhappy Bunnie, who looked ready to murder the boy rabbit beside her.

Wrapped in DJ's embrace, Bunneh squirmed closer to the pretty girl bunny. "Hehe, since I'm sticking around, there'll be plenty of time for you and I to get a little _closer_." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and leaned closer to the revolted looking Bunnie. "How's that sound to you, Sweetears?"

Bunnie gave Bunneh an expression reserved only for filth and promptly kicked her obnoxious bunny companion in his...unmentionables.

Both Duncan and Courtney winced and moaned as Bunneh's shrilly scream of pain filled the air. Despite being human again, the couple still found that they could understand Bunneh and Molotov quite perfectly.

"That's gotta hurt." Duncan commented looking particularly effected. He, of all people, was familiar with such pain.

From another table, Molotov gave a deep, amused chuckle. "_Da_ to that, _Bratka_!"

Ezekiel, who was sitting next to the giant brown bear, heard only rumbling growls from the Russian bear. With a slightly panicked expression look on his pimpled face, Ezekiel squeakily scooted his chair a couple inches away from the bear.

"Well," Courtney said slightly sheepishly as she grinned over at Duncan which he warmly returned, "Some of us are getting happily ever afters at least."

The couple's comfortably cozy moment was ruined as Chris shouted over at them a few feet away.

"Can you two keep it down? I'm making a business deal here!" Chris yelled, holding a hand over the cell phone speaker. He removed the hand and started speaking in a falsely pleasant tones into the phone. "Now where were we? Oh yes…look I'm calling with this totally awesome movie pitch. It goes like this… a guy gets turned into a spider by some wicked voodoo and has to kiss a princess to change back…you still with me? Okay, so he finds a girl and kisses her and…wait for it….she gets turned into a spider too! Then the movie has them go on a wilderness adventure, they meet animal friends, fall in love, and then break the spell. Totally awesome, right? Gonna make some big bucks, I'm telling ya! So what do you say? Do we have a movie?"

Duncan and Courtney frowned and shot each other annoyed glances as Chris listened to producer's answer. Figures the creep would try to steal their adventure and make it into a money-making scam. Their eyebrows lifted in surprise when the handsome host's expression went from pleased to enrage.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE IDEA'S ALREADY BEEN DONE?" Chris hollered into the cell phone. His face was turning a very unpleasant shade of red. "FROGS? THEY USED FROGS? WHAT KIND OF CLIQUE MOVE IS THAT! GET ME ON THE PHONE WITH THIS JOHN LASSETOR WISEGUY! WE'LL SEE WHO'S THE BETTER FILMMAKER HERE!"

Chris found himself yelling at midair when Izzy suddenly whooped down, cackling like a mad women, and snatched up his cell phone. She landed on the snack table on all fours, and leapt over a very surprised Harold and his group of admirers.

"Get back here, Izzy!" Chris yelled, shaking a fist at the crazy redhead.

"NEVER!" Izzy screamed in a Zelda like manner. She took out the phone and began to sprout out endless chatter. "Oooh, you're a movie producer? Well Madame Juju has hundreds of movie ideas! Oh, Oh! Do a movie that has the Titanic guy alive and he's in a world where there's some weird police that like totally go into people's dreams! But they're not normal dreams! They're like a dream within a dream! Or a dream within a dream within a dream within a _nightmare _where everything's all cool and like floaty and…." Izzy frowned when only a long beep answered her indicating that the producer had hung up. "Wow, he must be totally in a hurry to make my film. HOLLYWOOD HERE I COME!" With a happy shout, Izzy threw the cell phone in the air and leapt away to cause more mayhem.

The cell phone landed in the middle of the flaming barbecue pit where Chef was grilling some steaks for the teens. Whistling a cheerful tune through the gap his teeth, Chef flipped over the steaks as well as a now very scorched cell phone.

Chris let out a wail of agony and angrily tore at his raven-black hair in frustration. Was nothing ever going to go right for him?

"My happily ever after is now complete." Duncan said with a blissful sigh as he and Courtney shared a laugh at Chris' misfortune. Just the undertone of hopelessness and sorrow in Chris's wails made the night a little more wonderful each time Duncan heard it.

A high-pitched screeched filled the air for a moment as Trent grabbed hold of the microphone on stage. Trent had gathered together a makeshift band to provide musical entertainment for the party; Cody was settled next to the keyboard, flashing a gap-toothed smile over at Gwen, who at taken a place by the drum set and looked like she was wondering why the hell she had agreed to this idea in the first place. Trent had his guitar tuned and ready, strapped around his neck, as he spoke into the microphone to speak with the contestants.

"Hey everybody, how's the party going?"

Trent was answered by several loud cheers from the contestants below, loudest coming from Geoff, Izzy, and Owen.

"Let's give a big cheer for the heroes of the hour," Trent continued, waving a hand towards the tables where Duncan, Courtney, and Harold sat.

"Heroes and _heroine_!" Courtney corrected, though her voice was lost in the midst of the roaring cheers and applause of the contestants around her. She gave up and smiled, her cheeks flushed pink with pride and happiness. Duncan merely smirked and lazily waved a hand of acknowledgement. Harold had his chest puffed out in pride and gave an elegant bow.

"You guys made this season final one that we won't forget. Now that's said, let's get this after party started with some killer tunes." Trent said. He pulled his guitar from his back and settled it in front of him. He stroked a string, allowing a sweet note to echo through air. As the audience fell silent, Trent spoke one last time.

"This is a new song that I wrote." Trent said, smiling the first real smile in weeks, "I'd like to dedicate it to a special girl."

Behind the drums, Gwen's sour expression melted into a smile. Trent caught her eye and winked.

Catching a nod from Trent, Cody keyed in a couple notes on the keyboard before the raven-haired musician opened his mouth and began to sing.

"_**Oooh, for the way you changed my plans. For being the perfect distraction. For the way you took the idea that I had of everything that I wanted to have and made me see there was something missing…oh yeah…" **_

As Trent sang, the girls in the audience (mostly Sadie, Katie, and Beth) were memorized by his lovely voice (not to mention the handsome singer). However, Trent's eyes were focused solely on the teal-haired girl on the drums. Gwen pretended not the notice, though the pleased smile and red blush on her pale cheeks told everyone else otherwise.

"_**For the ending of my first begin,"**_ sang Trent. He leaned against Cody's shoulder and the two boys smoothly sang together. _**"Oh yeah, yeah…Oh yeah, yeah…"**_

Trent then sang alone. _**"For the rare and unexpected friend."**_

"_**Oh yeah, yeah…Oh yeah, yeah…"**_ sang Bunneh and Molotov from the audience.

"_**For the way, you're something that I never choose,"**_ Trent sang, _**"But at the same time, something I don't wanna lose and never wanna be without ever again!"**_

"_**Ooooohhhh…"**_

"_**You're the best thing I never knew I needed,"**_ Trent's enchanting voice lifting in volume and intensity the more he sang. _**"So when you were here I had no idea, you're the best thing I never knew I needed."**_

With each lyric, Trent had been gradually moving closer to Gwen, still singing. Gwen peered at him, grinning, still not missing a beat with her drums. With adoration shining his forest green eyes, Trent sang the next words directly to Gwen.

"_**So now it's so clear, I need you here always."**_

Courtney was listening attentively to Trent's song, her head nodding lazily along with the beautiful melody when she suddenly felt a tap on the shoulder. She turned and saw Duncan offering a hand.

"Care to dance?" he asked, teal eyes twinkling with amusement, "Or do you only dance well as with eight legs?"

Cocking her eyebrow and shooting her boyfriend a competitive smirk, Courtney accepted his hand. "I'm going to make you eat those words, spider boy!"

"That's spider Prince to you, Princess!" Duncan chuckled and pulled her onto the dance floor.

"_**My accidental happily ever after…oooh! The way you smile and how you comfort me with your laughter…"**_

Duncan and Courtney entering the dance floor was a signal for everyone that it was time for dancing.

Lindsay grabbed a surprised Tyler's hand and pulled him up from the table. "Come on Tyler, let's dance!"

"NO LINDSAY! MY NAME ISN'T….wait…" Tyler blinked puzzledly a couple time. It took a couple of seconds for his brain to wrap around realization at what Lindsay had just called him. "You called me Tyler! You remembered my name! YOU REMEMBERED MY NAME!" he screamed out in joy.

Lindsay giggled loudly at her beloved's antics as the two air-headed lovers spun around and around onto the dance floor.

"_**I must admit you were not a part of my book, but now if you open it up and take a look, you're the beginning and the end of every chapter."**_

Izzy landed on top of Owen's blonde head and leaned forward to gaze her crazed green eyes into his surprised face. "Izzy wants Big O to come dance the dance of the courting tarantulas! I learned it from Duncan and Courtney!"

Owen looked hesitant. One would be a fool not to be when offered anything by a girlfriend like Izzy. But she learned it from Duncan and Court so it shouldn't be too bad right?

"Uh…sure Izz." Owen said, smiling good-naturedly, "How does it go?"

The gentle giant squealed in terror when Izzy gave a fanged grin, grabbed Owen's arm, and, letting out an infamous mad cackle, effortlessly flip the fat boy towards the middle of the dance floor. Duncan and Courtney as well as Tyler and Lindsay had to scramble away to avoid being squashed by their giant friend. Owen landed with a painful "Oof!" onto his back. Like a vicious jungle cat, Izzy left on top him, grinning evilly.

"Prepare for the dance of your life!" Izzy insanely laughed, looming over Owen.

Owen's terrified and pained screams filled everyone's ears as well as the sounds of what seemed to be punching and biting.

"Relax Big O! I'm just showing how much I love you!"

"YOU'RE BREAKING MY LEG!"

Sipping a soda from one of the white-cloth tables, Noah watched Owen's misfortunes and chuckled nastily.

"Hehe, having fun chubby buddy?" Noah called out with a loud laugh. The laughter was choked out of him when Katie snatched him by the arm.

"Oooh, let's dance!" Katie squealed, tightening her hold on his skinny arm.

"I don't think so. Dancing is not my foorr_teeeee-aaaiiiggghhh_!" Noah gave a shrilly scream when Katie, showing a surprising amount of strength, literally dragged him onto the dance floor.

"Ooh, wait for me!" Sadie called to her friend. She looked around for a potential dance partner. Her victim was soon spotted.

"Come here DJ!" The plump girl grabbed hold to a highly surprised DJ who dropped his two beloved bunnies in shock as he was dragged unwillingly to the dance floor.

As the two BFFs clung tightly to their respective partners, grinning happily as they slowly waltzed in place side by side. A glare was fixed on Noah's face as he was squeezed to death by his significant other.

"Damn fairy tale ending…" the bookworm grumbled as DJ whimpered.

"_**You're the best thing I never knew I needed. So when you were here I had no idea, you're the best thing I never knew I needed. So now it's so clear, I need you here always."**_

LeShawna gazed dreamily at all the dancing couples, elbow propped up and chin resting in the palm of her hand, and sighed, smiling at the sight of budding love. She was always a romantic at her. Suddenly she felt a tap on the shoulder and turned. She blinked in surprise at the sight of a Harold, his freckled face lit in a love struck grin.

"M'lady," Harold bowed low and held out his hand towards his plump, dark-skinned goddess. "May you grace this lowly savior of tarantulas and conqueror of voodoo with a dance?"

LeShawna cupped Harold's chin in her hand and tilted his pale face upward until he was eye to eye with LeShawna. A loving smile spread across the black girl's face.

"Bout time you came and asked me, Sugar." She puckered her large lips and gave the red-haired nerd a large smooch that sent fireworks erupting inside Harold. As the couple drew apart, LeShawna pulled the love-struck Harold along. "Let's go show these people how to shake some booty!"

"Yes, my sweet, sweet Le-Goddess!" Harold cooed, smiling with pure bliss as he was swept along with his true love.

As they ran towards the rest of the dancers, they accidentally knocked into one of the chairs that held a currently lip-locked Geoff and Bridgette. Their chair was sent in a spinning fit that send the couple onto the ground with a loud thud. With their make-out session ended, Geoff and Bridgette stood up, dusted themselves off, listened to the music, looked at each other, smiled, and, holding each other's hand, wordlessly rushed off to join the rest of their friends in dancing. At last, they had realized that there were more joys to being a couple than just the kissing.

"_**Oooohhh…Who knew that I can be someone unexpectedly, undeniably happier seeing you right next to me?" **_

From her table, Beth stared longingly at the all the dancing couples and gave an annoyed pout. It seemed that she was one of the only ones without a dance partner since Brady had gone home the day before. But no, that wasn't true. She looked over at Ezekiel who was sitting alone. Sure he wasn't too much of a looker but…

Beth's thoughts of asking Zekey to dance were dashed to pieces the moment she saw, to much shock and surprise, Eva stomp up to him.

Ezekiel honestly had no idea what to do when Eva, face set in a usual fearsome glower, stomped up to him and wordlessly stood by his side. There were a few moments of silence in which Ezekiel merely hugged his Loser Consolations prize in fear. Then Eva spoke.

"You know," the fearsome, glaring girl said in emotionless tones, "I hated you the most. Not Bridgette."

The home schooled teen had not idea where this was headed.

"Uhh…okay…eh." Ezekiel thought that was the safest answer. Another moment or two of awkward silence took place.

Suddenly, with the ferocity and quickness of an attacking shark, Eva grabbed a fistful of the front of Zekey's hood and pulled the home-schooled boy into a deep, furious kiss.

Beth's jaw dropped in shock. At the barbecue pit, Chef was gaping at the sight, eyes wide and ignoring the hamburger patty that had dropped from his spatula onto the ground. Molotov, who had been sitting next to Ezekiel, tried to scoop his chair away from odd kissing couple unnoticed.

Just as suddenly as it began, the kiss ended with Eva pulling away and pushing Zekey away. She resumed stand there wordlessly, looking emotionless besides the glower on her face while Zekey stood next to her, shaking like a mangy cat that had just seen a glimpse of death. The rest of his pitiful reward fell to pieces. Alas, Tayler Launter, in his twig glory, was no more.

Zekey looked at his now empty hands and then at Eva.

"So…do yoo wanna dance, eh?" he hesitantly asked, holding out a trembling hand.

She stared at the hand as if it were a nasty piece of slime, then at Ezekiel's pimply face, frowning.

"Okay."

For the first time, a small smile grew on the burly girl's face as she took the smaller boy's hand and the two misfits walked over to the dance floor.

Beth scowled. So much for that! If only Brady was here! Maybe if she could drag Cody away from the keyboard….

Then she spotted him.

A large smile graced Beth's round face as she batted her eyelashes and called out flirtatiously between giggles.

"Oooh Billy! How would you like to dance? I know I'm taken, but if you won't tell, then I won't, hehe!"

"_**You're the best thing I never knew I needed. So when you were here I had no idea…"**_

A full moon hung in the velvet night sky, looking down at all the couples dancing to the music. In the midst of it all, Duncan and Courtney danced, arms wrapped around each other in loving embrace. Courtney had her head resting on Duncan's chest as the two slowly circled in place and soaking in the magic that this night graced them with. Neither Duncan nor Courtney would ever forget the events of these three days- especially not tonight. Both of them would lock the memories of this magical night inside their hearts forever so that in the future, in their darkest moments and after their most hurtful arguments, they would remember the adventure they share. They would remember the love they felt for one another- a love that would burn inside Duncan and Courtney warmly and brightly for the rest of their days.

If only some people were that lucky.

"Come on, Sweetears! Let's dance! I can show you how to do the Bunny Hop!" A loud obnoxious voice loudly called and ruined the blissful, heartfelt moment Duncan and Courtney were having.

Bunneh hopped over to the couple, chasing after a very annoyed Bunnie.

"Stop calling me that, vermin! My name is Bunnie! Not Sweetears! And I would never dance with such a scruffy, ill-mannered wild animal like you!" The girl bunny declared in a prissy manner, scrunching her pink nose in disgust at Bunneh.

"Awww, you know you want me, Babes!" Bunneh replied with a flirtatious cock of the eyebrow.

"In your dreams!" Bunnie huffed, hopping away with her nose up in the air.

Duncan and Courtney stared at the all too familiar scene with amused looks on their faces.

"How long do you think it'll take?" Courtney asked grinning to Duncan.

A sly smirk slid across Duncan's handsome face.

I don't know, but if those two are anything like you and me…" breaking off, Duncan grabbed hold of Courtney's hand, pulling her close, and then, holding one hand under her waist for support, leaned forward and dipped Courtney down into the final dance position that he and she had been in back in the forest while dancing as tarantulas, with his grinning face close to her flushed one.

"…it won't take any time at all." He finished with a smirk.

Smiling deviously, Courtney looped a hand around Duncan's neck and pulled him down, happily closing the distance between their lips with a kiss.

"_**You're the best thing I never knew I needed…"**_

"Such a magical night this is _da_." Molotov commented.

Molotov watched Duncan and Courtney kiss and felt his giant heart swell with pride and joy with the knowledge his two little friends had finally found love and happiness with one another. The old bear chuckled as he watched the rest of the Total Drama crew dance with their partners. Perhaps…just perhaps they could find the same happiness that Duncan and Courtney had found. And others too. Magic and love weren't that hard to find if you had the right friends showing you the way.

"But then again, why shouldn't it be?" Molotov smiled, lifting his large, shaggy head to the star-filled skies. "Love is magic after all. Don't you agree, my beautiful Evangeline?"

Evangeline, radiate and true, twinkled in reply to her beloved.

"_**So now it's so clear, I need you here always."**_

Trent's heavenly voice died away as the last strands of music melted from the night. But none of the dancers seemed to mind or notice. They just kept dancing away completely, wishing that a night such as this, full of magic and love thought to only to exist in fairy tales, to never end….

…at least…that's how most people felt…..

There were two particular people back at the hotel who thought very differently.

* * *

"_**GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!" **_

Back at the hotel where the contestants had stayed at for the last couple of days, two former contestants were currently residing at the pool area. A bald-headed Heather and Justin were both tied up with rope and hanging upside down over the swimming pole, hung by their bound feet to two street lamps. All this was punishment for their evil plot.

They hadn't been invited to the party.

"HOW DARE YOU LOSERS DO THIS TO ME?" Heather screamed and screeched like a banshee, swinging back and forth in rage. "I _DEMAND_ YOU GUYS UNTIE ME THIS INSTANT! IS THAT _MUSIC_ I'M HEARING? ARE YOU GUYS HAVING A PARTY WITHOUT ME? _SOMEBODY'S GOING TO BE PAYING BIG TIME WHEN I GET DOWN FROM HERE_!"

Hissing like a wet cat, Heather shot a glare at Justin who was sniffling beside her.

"Are you _crying_?" She demanded to know, staring at the handsome model in shock.

Indeed, Justin was crying, but to Heather's shock, he was smiling as well.

"Have you ever seen such a beautiful sight?" Justin asked, smiling brightly as joyful tears fell from his face.

He was staring at his gorgeous reflection in the pool water's surface.

Heather's scream of rage and frustration echoed all the way to the movie set and managed to break a string from Trent's guitar as well as bring all the dancers to a shocked halt.

But then Cody started a wicked keyboard solo and got the party started once again.

* * *

Even though the fairy tale has ended, many might be wondering what happens to Duncan, Courtney, Harold, Bunneh, Molotov and all the rest of the contestants after this night of adventure and plots, of terror and magic, and of dark greed falling against the light of love…

Well, dearest readers, you're going to have to connect the rest of those spider threads yourself…

...But, until then, let us just say that they all lived happily ever after.

_**The End.**_


End file.
